Synopsis Approximately 2.5 billion people are at risk for Plasmodium vivax malaria. The treatment and control of P. vivax are complicated by a latent, undetectable form in the liver stage of the parasite lifecycle, known as the hypnozoite. The World Health Organization recommends treatment of P. vivax malaria with chloroquine or artemisinin-based combination therapy to clear asexual parasites, plus treatment with the 8-aminoquinoline primaquine for 14 days.
Non-adherence to the primaquine regimen puts at risk the effectiveness of the treatment. To add on to this crisis, it is seen that Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is has a prevalence of 8% across areas in which malaria is endemic. Both primaquine and tafenoquine cause hemolysis in persons with G6PD deficiency. Recently tafenoquine has been registered with the Food and Drug Administration and Australian Therapeutic…
