The disposition of amodiaquine in Zambians and Nigerians with malaria.

1. Oral amodiaquine (AQ) has been used to treat patients with symptomatic malaria in Zambia (n = 14) and Nigeria (n = 5). Clinical cure was obtained in all patients and no serious adverse drug reactions were seen. 2. As in healthy subjects, AQ achieved low plasma concentrations. Plasma concentration vs time profiles of desethylamodiaquine (AQm) from the present study did not differ from those obtained from healthy subjects. 3. In contrast to previous results from healthy subjects, the mean ratio of red cell (RBC): plasma AQm concentration in the present study was 0.80: 1 at the start of the study and rose in a linear manner (r = 0.873; P less than 0.01) to 3.04: 1 by the end (n = 10; P less than 0.01). The final mean value was similar to that seen in healthy subjects. 4. These data show that there are differences in the disposition of orally administered AQ between healthy subjects and patients with clinical malaria. The relevance of this observation to the frequency of adverse reactions to AQ in these two groups is not established.