April 17, 2007
When A Parasite Outsmarts A Drug
Chien-Chi Chang
Flora Twikirize, who is 4 months pregnant, is being successfully treated for Malaria at the Kabale Regional Hospital in Kabale, Uganda on April 17, 2007. Chien-Chi Chang/Magnum on Malaria
Flora Twikirize, who is 4 months pregnant, was brought to the Kabale Regional Hospital by a neighbor after collapsing and losing consciousness in her own home. A week ago, when she fell ill with fever and headaches, her husband brought her to a local private clinic where she was tested and diagnosed with having malaria. She paid about $8 and was given chloroquine which in the past several years has proved to be ineffective against malaria in Africa. Though the malaria parasite has grown resistant, many private clinics still prescribe the drug because their inventories are full of it.
With her husband hundreds of kilometers away purchasing clothes to be resold in Kabale, Flora grew increasingly ill while taking the useless medication. Pregnant women are especially susceptible to malaria and when she reached the hospital she was immediately put on a quinine intravenous drip.
She is slowly regaining her health.
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Published on the Magnum Blog on April 17, 2007
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