A 40-year-old woman has confirmed Plasmodium vivax malaria and has completed chloroquine therapy. She is G6PD normal. As per national guidelines, the radical cure regimen she should receive is:
- A Primaquine 0.25 mg/kg daily for 5 days
- B Primaquine 0.75 mg/kg as a single dose
- C Primaquine 0.25 mg/kg daily for 14 days ✓
- D Primaquine 0.5 mg/kg daily for 7 days
Correct answer: C. Primaquine 0.25 mg/kg daily for 14 days
Explanation
Radical cure of vivax malaria requires primaquine 0.25 mg/kg daily for 14 days to clear hepatic hypnozoites, after confirming normal G6PD status. The single 0.75 mg/kg dose is the gametocytocidal dose used in falciparum treatment to reduce transmission, not a hypnozoitocidal regimen. The 5-day course was abandoned because relapse rates were unacceptably high with such short exposure.
Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.
High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP
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