Phung Duc ThuanNguyen Thuy Nha CaPham Van ToiNguyen Thanh Thuy NhienNgo Viet ThanhNguyen Duc AnhNguyen Hoan PhuCao Quang ThaiLe Hong ThaiNhu Thi HoaLe Thanh DongMai Anh LoiDo Hung SonTran Tinh Ngoc KhanhChristiane DolecekHo Thi NhanMarcel WolbersGuy ThwaitesJeremy FarrarNicholas J. WhiteTran Tinh HienOxford University Clinical Research UnitUCLInstitute of Malariology, Parasitology and EntomologyUniversity of OxfordMahidol University2018-12-112019-03-142018-12-112019-03-142016-04-01American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Vol.94, No.4 (2016), 879-885000296372-s2.0-84963646069https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/40865© Copyright 2016 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. A total of 128 Vietnamese patients with symptomatic Plasmodium vivax mono-infections were enrolled in a prospective, open-label, randomized trial to receive either chloroquine or dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ). The proportions of patients with adequate clinical and parasitological responses were 47% in the chloroquine arm (31 of 65 patients) and 66% in the DHA-PPQ arm (42 of 63 patients) in the Kaplan-Meier intention-to-treat analysis (absolute difference 19%, 95% confidence interval = 0-37%), thus establishing non-inferiority of DHA-PPQ. Fever clearance time (median 24 versus 12 hours, P = 0.02), parasite clearance time (median 36 versus 18 hours, P < 0.001), and parasite clearance half-life (mean 3.98 versus 1.80 hours, P < 0.001) were all significantly shorter in the DHA-PPQ arm. All cases of recurrent parasitemia in the chloroquine arm occurred from day 33 onward, with corresponding whole blood chloroquine concentration lower than 100 ng/mL in all patients. Chloroquine thus remains efficacious for the treatment of P. vivax malaria in southern Vietnam, but DHA-PPQ provides more rapid symptomatic and parasitological recovery.Mahidol UniversityImmunology and MicrobiologyArticleSCOPUS10.4269/ajtmh.15-0740