Suppression of malaria with pyrimethamine in Nigerian schoolchildren.

The authors describe a two-year investigation carried out on a group of Nigerian schoolchildren with the object of assessing the effect of suppressing malaria infection with pyrimethamine on the physical development of the African child. The results showed that the average gain in weight of the treated children over the period of the investigation was significantly greater than that of the untreated children. Despite the relatively high weekly dose of the drug no side-effects were observed, and no alarming manifestation of malaria was noted when administration of the drug was discontinued.