All about Primaquine

Primaquine is an antimalarial drug

What you need to know:

  • The biggest challenge when it comes to primaquine is treatment of patient with a certain deficiency called Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase termed (G6DP). This is an enzyme and it is said people that lack it, if exposed to primaquine, are at a risk of breakdown of red blood cells medically called haemolysis. This then results in anaemia.

Last week, we mentioned primaquine as the choice drug for the treatment of plasmodium ovale and plasmodium vivax related malaria infections. But just so we do not go ahead and self-prescribe this medicine, we need to know a little more about it. According to www.drugbank.ca, primaquine is an antimalarial drug given for the above infections, after the person has been given medicine that eradicates the forms of those organisms in blood.
It is explained that the malaria parasite breaks down a part of the red blood cells called haemoglobin.
This breaks into two parts that is: haem and globin. It is said that haem is toxic to the parasites and these have thus developed a mechanism of turning the former into a non-toxic product.
Primaquine, they explain, interferes with the energy-producing units in the parasite and by doing this, the parasite dies. This stops the infection from continuing, which then leads to recovery of the patient. Primaquine also kills the dormant forms of the above organisms that are found in the liver. This, therefore, prevents relapses of the disease. It is often packaged as a 15mg tablet. It is often given for up to 14 days.
Sometimes a higher dose of 30mg is given for 14 days or an even higher one for seven days.
The biggest challenge when it comes to primaquine is treatment of patient with a certain deficiency called Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase termed (G6DP). This is an enzyme and it is said people that lack it, if exposed to primaquine, are at a risk of breakdown of red blood cells medically called haemolysis. This then results in anaemia.
According to, www.researchgate.net, this deficiency is common in areas with high spread of malaria and this identification of this condition is best done to avoid eventual complications that would be associated with the treatment.
For such patients, dose adjustments have to be made where it can be given once every week for up to eight weeks. One’s pharmacist is best armed with this information. This medicine is not recommended in expectant mothers. This, for a patient, means it is best not to self-prescribe but seek medical counsel at all times.

The writer is a pharmacist