The Effect of Malaria Drug on Breastfeeding Infant

The way certain medical errors can put people's life in danger is very alarming, just one doctor's error can create a life-threatening situation. I remember a woman told me a story of how a piece of information saved her during her pregnancy period.

According to her, she went to the hospital to complain about a severe headache and a young doctor was attending to her, whilst prescribing medications for her, an older doctor walked in and questioned the doctor's decision to prescribe this particular drug for her when the last person it was prescribed for packed up.

Upon hearing that information, she instantly picked up her bag and started to walk away, all the efforts of the older doctor to get her back proved abortive and she promised never to visit the hospital again. I remembered this story today because I was feeling sick, so I went to the hospital for a check-up and was diagnosed with malaria.

A particular anti-malaria drug was prescribed and I went to the pharmacy to get it, but unfortunately, it was not available, so the pharmacist prescribed another one for me, to be sure it was safe, I went back to the nurses to inform them and they affirmed that I could take it.

I went back home and took the drug as instructed, but on the second day of taking the medication, something prompted me to take out the leaflet and read through it carefully, and when I did, it was written plainly that the medication should not be taken by pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, I became so worried and tensed.

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It was the fact that I went back to ask these supposed medical experts for their opinion, completely trusting their expertise before going ahead to take the unsafe medication that got me angry and scared for our medical system. After going through this experience, I decided to read more and understand what is unsafe about treating myself as a breastfeeding mother.

Fortunately for the residents of om countries, they do not have to worry about the presence of malaria at all, but for the residents of my own country, we have to bother about it a great deal. The most common way to get malaria is when you get bitten by a mosquito that is infected with malaria parasites (Plasmodium). In very rare cases, we see malaria infection occurring due to blood transfusions, organ transplants, or the use of shared syringes and needles that have been contaminated with infected blood.

Malaria can only be found in blood, so it can't be transferred merely through physical contact. So, you do not need to worry about getting malaria by holding hands or sitting together.
Malaria can't be passed through breast milk, breastfeeding on its own will not give your baby malaria. Certain medications that should be used to treat malaria may enter into the breast milk.

Research shows that a particular medication called, primaquine can treat malaria appropriately, but it may cause serious problems with the red blood cells of adults and infants who have a genetic condition called glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD deficiency). So, while the medication is a good one, it is better to get tested for the presence of G6PD deficiency first before the medication is used.

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From another article, I learned that medications that are used to treat malaria are not safe for breastfeeding mothers whose infants weigh less than 5kg. The presence of artesunate as an antimalaria drug was found to be undetectable in breast milk at any point in time according to this article, based on the same article, mothers who were given piperaquine and dihydroartemisinin whilst breastfeeding, had their infants committing more than the other percentage of non-breastfed infants.

According to this publication, very little amount of chloroquine was found to be excreted through breast milk when administered once a week, this amount of the drug is not enough to harm the infant nor is the child protected from malaria.

Just like it is for pregnant women, the same is applicable for breastfeeding mothers too, to be careful of the type of medication as impacts on infants is greatly related to medications excreted through the breastmilk.
A publication also advised that Quinine which happens to be happens to be an antimalaria drug should only be used when other options are not available, and during the process especially when it is intravenous dosing, infant feeding and blood dextrose should be closely monitored.

There is also no available data for the excretion of atovaquone in human breast milk, but because of the potential risk it has on infants who are breastfeeding, the use of the drug is strongly discouraged.
Doxycyline used on a short-term basis is not supposed to cause serious effects in a child, but prolonged or repeated treatment while breastfeeding is not advisable.

At the end of the day and for the safety of my dear child, I had to stop the intake of the medication immediately, and I went for the drug I took when I was pregnant, which I believe was safer for me and my child. Do you have any experience with medications whilst breastfeeding, I would like to read from your comment section.

References.

https://mothertobaby.org/fact-sheets/malaria/

https://www.drugs.com/breastfeeding/chloroquine.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK501473/

https://www.mdedge.com/obgyn/article/201947/obstetrics/antimalarials-pregnancy-and-lactation

https://sunnybrook.ca/content/?page=pregnancy-breastfeeding-antimalarial

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2024/infections-diseases/malaria

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14740338.2018.1535593

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Hi, I am Tobi, a writer, speaker, relationship blogger, and lover of good music. I love making friends and learning from people. If you want to hear me speak on relationships and general life issues, you can find my YouTube channel where you can watch any episode for free, please do not forget to subscribe, friends. I sincerely appreciate every love I get from here, Kindly do well to keep them coming.