How does malaria affect a pregnant woman?

Malaria infection during pregnancy can have adverse effects on both mother and fetus, including maternal anemia, fetal loss, premature delivery, intrauterine growth retardation, and delivery of low birth-weight infants (<2500 g or <5.5 pounds), a risk factor for death.

Is malaria common during pregnancy?

Pregnant women are 3 times more likely to suffer from severe disease as a result of malarial infection compared with their nonpregnant counterparts, and have a mortality rate from severe disease that approaches 50%.

What are the types of malaria in pregnancy?

uncomplicated malaria in the first trimester; uncomplicated and complicated malaria in the second and third trimesters; complicated malaria during all trimesters; chemoprophylaxis of malaria in pregnancy in moderate-to-high transmission areas.

What is the treatment of malaria in pregnancy?

Uncomplicated malaria in pregnancy Currently, quinine and clindamycin is the recommended treatment for women in the first trimester of pregnancy31. In many places, clindamycin is unavailable, and quinine monotherapy is prescribed.

When can a pregnant woman treat malaria?

The CDC now recommends the use of artemether-lumefantrine as an additional treatment option for uncomplicated malaria in pregnant women in the United States during the second and third trimester of pregnancy at the same doses recommended for nonpregnant women.

Which malaria drugs is good for a pregnant woman?

Medications that can be used for the treatment of malaria in pregnancy include chloroquine, quinine, atovaquone-proguanil, clindamycin, mefloquine (avoid in first trimester), sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (avoid in first trimester) and the artemisinins (see below).

What is the best malaria drug for a pregnant woman?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends the antimalarial drug mefloquine for pregnant women both as a malaria treatment option and as an option to prevent malaria infection for all trimesters. Previously mefloquine was not recommended for the treatment of malaria in pregnant women.

Which antimalarial drug is safe in pregnancy?

The antimalarials that can be used in pregnancy include (1) chloroquine, (2) amodiaquine, (3) quinine, (4) azithromycin, (5) sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, (6) mefloquine, (7) dapsone-chlorproguanil, (8) artemisinin derivatives, (9) atovaquone-proguanil and (10) lumefantrine.

Which malaria drug is safe in early pregnancy?

Women in the United States with uncomplicated malaria during the first trimester of pregnancy should be treated with the currently recommended options of either mefloquine or quinine plus clindamycin.