There are 4 types of malaria-
1-Plasmodium falciparum-most serious, can be fatal-does not relapse
2-P. malariae-does not relapse
3-P. ovale-relapses
4-P. vivax-relapses

Riamet (coartem is the same thing) kills the parasites in the blood, thus it is a new treatment of interest for P. falciparum, the one responsible for most deaths.

The other 3 types of malaria most people's immune system will usually bring under control.

However, P. ovale and P.vivax will relapse if the only treatment used is for the blood stage (lives inside your red blood cells), because there is also a liver stage. So.........for P. vivax and P. ovale the treatment that caught my eye is this-

Malarone 4 tablets a day for 3 days(kills blood stage), followed by 14 days of primaquine(to kill the liver stages). Before taking primaquine a test must be done rule out a G6PDeficiency.
There's a newer form of primaquine called tafenoquine that is only taken for 3 days. I'm not sure if it's on the market yet.

So, 3 days of malarone and 3 days of tafenoquine-6 days only? But will it work on Babesia? I'm gonna run it past my LLMD.

I hate Mepron, it makes me get very depressed and why do we have to take it forever? My guess is because it does not kill the liver stages.

Comments, mistakes, whatever, looking for ideas.

Janet

[This message has been edited by janet thomas (edited 05 June 2005).]
 

We had that exact same conversation with our LLMD several months ago. I am not sure if you are thinking you have Babesia, and are trying to apply some Malaria treatment knowledge to that, or if you suspect one of the Malaria forms. In any case you are asking good questions that show you have done your research.

In our case, it seemed to actually be one of the lesser Malarias which are still around in the Southern US and Mexico. We were not thrilled with the idea of Mepron either, especially at $800 a bottle for months and months.

Our Dr. seemed very familiar with the standard Malaria meds, and did not want to use them because of toxicity and very ban neuropsychologial side effects common to some of them. Suicide and that sort of thing. Some also can be fatal at only modest overdose levels. They are nasty meds for an even nastier disease, and not ones to take if there is an alternative.

What we ended up doing about the Malaria was taking Artemisinin at a fairly high dose for 5 days, per some guidlines published by WHO a few years ago. It cleared up the malaria nicely and its symptoms, and they have not been back.

The old line Malaria meds are in general awful and toxic. Atremisinin is an OTC, natural herbal extract with little toxicity, few side effects and a low cost. Remember always... "First of all, do no harm."

This also led to the discovery about 7 weeks ago that Artemisinin taken at the same time as a penicillin or cephalosporin type antibiotic is incredible effective at killing Lyme. We are now, with the help of our Dr. testing this and seeing very encouraging results.

So far it has been demonstrated to work with IM penicillin procaine, oral Amoxicillin, and IM Rocephin. Likely it works with other penicillins and cephalosporins. (The beta lactam family.)

So with more testing and a few more Drs. being involved it is possible you may be able to work on your Lyme and Babesia at the same time soon.

Just FWIW, high dose Amoxicillin (4.5g a day)combined with high dose Artemisin (12 caps a day) seems to be MORE effective than with 2g of Rocephin instead of Amoxicillin. Go figure, the cheaper drug works better for once!

I mentioned this a couple of times here earlier, but nobody believes me, so I have backed away from mentioning in Lymenet.

Still the results have been too encouraging not to talk about.

So... consider trying the Artemisinin on the Babesia (or Malaria) before poisoning yourself too badly with old line Malaria drugs. With your Dr's OK of course.

If we keep getting better on this stuff I will get more vocal on th Lyme treatment potential.
 

Thank you for the info, I am intrigued.

I have Babesia and Lyme, tested positive for both. I am currently on 800 mg of ketek, ceftin (1000 mg BID-just started last week), nystatin, Allergy Research Group artemisinin-700 mg/day,and I'm supposed to take Mepron. However, Mepron causes severe depression for me and I am looking for alternatives.

My proposed tx for Babesia is 3 days of Malarone , followed by 14 days of primaquine. I will be tested for G6PD prior to starting the tx. The malaria drug that I have read causes psychological disturbances is mefloquine (Larium). Malarone is sometimes used by LLMDs for babesia and I think is well tolerated. Do you know anything about primaquine?

Mepron for months on end may be more than I can handle and it does not seem to adequately eradicate Babesia, judging by the many relapse stories I have read on lymenet, and my own relapse.

I am very encouraged by your reports of the effectiveness of artemisinin and a pencillin or cephalosporin. I will continue to use artemisinin, 3 weeks on, 1 week off. What dose have you found most effective?

Janet
You are in Texas. There is a Babesia that affects cattle, the disese is commonly referred to as cattle fever, was quite a problem in years past. Do you know the treatment for that?
 

whatever happened with this treatment anyway?

KLP
 

yikes.

Lisa
 

Thanks for doing this research. My Chris is struggling with Babs, the levels in his blood are back to normal, but he gets sick about 1 month after taking mepron for a month.

James-He is from AZ, am I understanding that he might have a strain of malaria that either shows up as babs or has babs as well?

I'll re-read again for better understanding. He sees his llmd in 3 weeks so I would like to get it clear by then.

Mel