Efficacy of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine tablets made in China in treatment of falciparum malaria in Africa

Objective To assess the therapeutic efficacy of dihydroartemisinin -piperaquine tablet,(trade name : Ketaifu,40/320mg) made in China in treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Methods There 224 patients with falciparum malaria in Public of Niger were randomly assigned to treatment group and control group ,each consisted of 112 cases. The treatment group received a 4-dose course of Ketaifu over 32 hours. And the control group received a 7-days course of dihydroartemisinin tablets (60mg tablets)over 7days. Results The clinical cure rate was 100% in treatment group and 96.4% in control group,without sinificantly statistical difference between the two groups(P0.05). The mean time of fever clearance and recrudescence rate were (36.16±13.32)hour and 3.6% in treatment group and (40.42±15.63)hour and 13.4% in control group,respectively,showing significantly statistical difference on mean time of fever clearance(P0.05) and recrudescence rate (P0.01)between the two groups. Conclusion The dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine tablets made in China shows a high cure rate,short time of fever clearance,low recrudescence rate and no conspicuous side effect in treatmetn of falciparum malaria in Africa..