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Simone D. McCourtie, World Bank
Researchers conducted an individual patient data meta-analysis using data from 1,747 patients, across Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, Thailand, Peru, Colombia, Ethiopia, and India, between 2000 to 2022, to examine the utility and validity of blood methaemoglobin as a measure for people having recurrent vivax malaria.
Plasmodium vivax malaria is dangerous because parasites can lay dormant in the liver for weeks or years and then cause serious recurrence or death. The prodrugs primaquine and tafenoquine are the only available treatments to prevent relapsing malaria, but their optimal dosing remains unclear.
Analysis of the data showed that methaemoglobin levels during treatment for vivax malaria can be used to predict population-level treatment efficacy. However, further research is needed to determine if this marker can be used to predict recurrence at an individual patient level.