Health Risks of Malaria Drug During Pregnancy
The anti-malarial drug Malarone, like most anti-malaria drugs, are not approved for use in pregnancy. So when pregnant women want to travel to areas with a high malaria risk, they confront a difficult decision of whether or not to take preventive medications that could pose a risk to their fetus. Now a new study has found that pregnant women who take Malarone during the first trimester may not be increasing their baby's risk for birth defects.
Still, researchers say it is too soon to declare the drug safe for travel health use in pregnant women. A cheap and widely used alternative, chloroquine, is safe during pregnancy, but resistance to the drug has become too common worldwide. An estimated 10000 to 30000 travellers develop malaria each year, and of those there are about 150 deaths from the disease. Pregnant women travelling to high-risk countries should consult a doctor who is experienced in travel medicine to discuss the pros and cons of their anti-malarial options.