The primaquine kills malaria at a certain point in it's life cycle in recurrent (chronic) infections where the malaria hides in the liver. The doxy is needed to eradicate any current infection in its active state in the blood cells, where the primaquine is ineffective.
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Originally Posted by SRT31B
A few of the joes have been told that while they're on the Primaquine they can't drink. Is this true, or just something they're putting out to mess with everyone?
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Primaquine is metabolized in the liver to produce an active metabolite to fight the disease. Liver impairment, through alcohol or other injury, could potentially decrease the effectiveness of the medication, in theory leaving the soldier unprotected.
Doxycycline is also metabolized by the liver, and is known to increase liver enzymes with prolonged treatment. Does this signal liver damage? Maybe, but I wouldn't want to give the liver the additional insult of alcohol while taking it.
You did the right thing to advise your guys not to drink until they finish the meds.
To be sure, I ran this by our ICU pharmacist, who didn't come up with anything else in his databases as far as interactions.
'zilla