A 22-year-old woman with Plasmodium vivax malaria weighing 50 kg is treated according to national antimalarial guidelines. The recommended total dose of chloroquine for her acute episode is:

• A 1250 mg base spread over 3 days ✓
• B 1500 mg base given as a single dose
• C 750 mg base spread over 2 days
• D 2000 mg base spread over 5 days

Explanation

Chloroquine for vivax malaria is given as 25 mg/kg of body weight spread over three days, classically divided 10, 10 and 5 mg/kg. For a 50 kg patient this totals 1250 mg base over 3 days. The single high dose option resembles the old single-day regimens that are no longer used, and 25 mg/kg is also the ceiling beyond which chloroquine becomes toxic.

Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

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