Objective: To evaluate clinical, parasitological and haematological responses to quinine sulphate therapy in patients with uncomplicated malaria using the 14-day WHO protocol.
Design: Longitudinal study.
Setting: The Buea Provincial hospital annex located in South Western Cameroon.
Subjects: The study participants consisted of children (> or = 8 months) and adults (< or = 550 years) with acute malaria attending the outpatient division of health institutions within Fako Division.
Results: Quinine sulphate failure was found in 42% of the patients. Of these 10% were resistant at the RI while 32% were at the RII level. Clinically, the overall success rate (ACR) was 94.2% while therapeutic failures (ETF and LTF) were observed in four patients (5.8%). 27.4% and 17.4% of the patients were anaemic at enrolment and day 14 respectively. The mean PCV levels of the patients increased during the follow-up period except on day three when mean PCV levels dropped. The difference in the mean PCV levels during the follow-up was significant (F = 60.29; P = 0.0001).
Conclusion: The relatively high resistance of quinine sulphate observed in this study suggests the need to monitor the spread of resistance to this drug in the study region.