[Clinical comparative trial of co-artemether and benflumetol (two formulations) in the treatment of falciparum malaria].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy and safety of co-artemether and one of its components benflumetol (two formulations) in the treatment of patients with falciparum malaria. METHODS: Adopting double-blining, randomization and comparative method, all patients were hospitalized and observed for 28 days after treatment. RESULTS: Of 150 patients, 51 patients were treated with co-artemether group(A), 50-patients were treated with benflumetol tablet group(B), 49 patients were freated with benflumetol capsule group(C). The mean fever clearance times for groups A, B and C were 17.1 +/- 8.6, 34.0 +/- 23.2 and 29.4 +/- 24.9 hours, respectively; the mean parasite clearance times were 29.7 +/- 8.9, 51.6 +/- 14.1 and 54.7 +/- 17.4 hours respectively; the cure rates in 28 days for groups A, B and C were 98.2%, 92.0% and 95.8%, respectively. No apparent side-effect was observed. CONCLUSION: Co-artemether and benflumetol (2 formulations) are effective for the treatment of patients with falciparum malaria but co-artemether is more effective than benflumetol (2 formulations) in terms of controlling symptoms and killing parasites.