Therapeutic monitoring of chloroquine in pregnant women with malaria

Abstract

Therapeutic monitoring of chloroquine was carried out in pregnant women with confirmed laboratory and clinical malaria after administration of 10 mg/kg body weight of the drug at 0 and 24th hour and 5 mg/kg body weight at the 48th hour. Venous blood was withdrawn at scheduled intervals. Plasma chloroquine level was determined using a highly sensitive and specific liquid chromatographic method. The time of peak plasma concentration, (t(max)) after the first dose was found to be 3.5 hours while peak plasma concentrations, (Cp(max)) were obtained at 2, 28, and 52 hours with values of 204. 36, 343.51 and 257.04 ng/ml respectively. There was total parasitaemia clearance before the end of 96 hours in all the subjects.