Guidance for Using Tafenoquine for Prevention and Antirelapse Therapy for Malaria — United States, 2019

An estimated 219 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide in 2017, causing approximately 435,000 deaths (1). Malaria is caused by intraerythrocytic protozoa of the genus Plasmodium transmitted to humans through the bite of an infective Anopheles mosquito. Five Plasmodium species that regularly ca...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report 2019-11, Vol.68 (46), p.1062-1068
Main Authors: Haston, Julia C., Hwang, Jimee, Tan, Kathrine R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aminoquinolines - therapeutic use
Anopheles
Antimalarials
Antimalarials - therapeutic use
Care and treatment
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S
Full Report
Humans
Liver
Malaria
Malaria - prevention & control
Plasmodium falciparum
Practice Guidelines as Topic
Prevention
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Secondary Prevention
Tafenoquine
Travel Medicine
Travelers
United States
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:An estimated 219 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide in 2017, causing approximately 435,000 deaths (1). Malaria is caused by intraerythrocytic protozoa of the genus Plasmodium transmitted to humans through the bite of an infective Anopheles mosquito. Five Plasmodium species that regularly cause illness in humans are P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae, and P. knowlesi (2). The parasite first develops in the liver before infecting red blood cells. Travelers to areas with endemic malaria can prevent malaria by taking chemoprophylaxis. However, most antimalarials do not kill the liver stages of the parasite, including hypnozoites that cause relapses of disease caused by P. vivax or P. ovale. Therefore, patients with these relapsing species must be treated with two medications: one for the acute infection, and another to treat the hypnozoites (antirelapse therapy). Until recently, primaquine was the only drug available worldwide to kill hypnozoites. Tafenoquine, a long-acting 8-aminoquinoline drug related to primaquine, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on July 20, 2018, for antirelapse therapy (Krintafel) and August 8, 2018, for chemoprophylaxis (Arakoda) (3,4). This report reviews evidence for the efficacy and safety of tafenoquine and provides CDC guidance for clinicians who prescribe chemoprophylaxis for travelers to areas with endemic malaria and treat malaria.
ISSN:0149-2195
1545-861X
DOI:10.15585/mmwr.mm6846a4