Trial reportPhytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology2019
Artemisia annua and Artemisia afra tea infusions vs. artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ) in treating Plasmodium falciparum malaria in a large scale, double blind, randomized clinical trial.
Trial report in Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It has been retracted, and should not be counted. It is linked to trial NCT04530617 (Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter, Multi-arm, Phase II Trial of Novel Agents for the Treatment of Mild to Moderate COVID-19 Positive Outpatients), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter, Multi-arm, Phase II Trial of Novel Agents for the Treatment of Mild to Moderate COVID-19 Positive Outpatients
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Search for Drugs Derived from Natural Products forCurrent topics in medicinal chemistry · 2024Pooled it
- Osteoprotective Effects and In Silico Profiling of Parinari curatellifolia Planch. Ex Benth. (Chrysobalanaceae) Extract on Acute Plasmodium berghei-Compromised Rat Bone.Chemistry & biodiversity · 2026Article
- From Traditional Use to Modern Evidence: The Medicinal Chemistry of Antimalarials from GenusMini reviews in medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- Medicinal plants as more sustainable therapeutic solutions:Global health economics and sustainability · 2025Article
- Artemisinin as a therapeuticNatural product reports · 2023Review
- A review of efficacy and safety of Ugandan anti-malarial plants with application of RITAM score.Malaria journal · 2023Review
- Interactions between Medical Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds: Focus on Antimicrobial Combination Effects.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Review
- Review
- Review
- Artemisinin and artemisinin derivatives as anti-fibrotic therapeutics.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2021Review
- Botanical Medicines Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, Artemisia annua, Scutellaria baicalensis, Polygonum cuspidatum, and Alchornea cordifolia Demonstrate Inhibitory Activity Against Babesia duncani.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Article
- Research Advances on Health Effects of EdibleFoods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- Review
- Dried LeafBiomolecules · 2020Article
- Improving natural product research translation: From source to clinical trial.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2020Article
- Evaluation of Natural and Botanical Medicines for Activity Against Growing and Non-growing Forms ofFrontiers in medicine · 2020Article
- It is not just artemisinin:Phytochemistry reviews : proceedings of the Phytochemical Society of Europe · 2019Article
- Response to Argemi et al. 2019.Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology · 2019Article
- The Role of Ayurveda in Prostate Cancer Management.Integrative cancer therapiesReview
Corrections and comments
- Retraction · 2020-09-21Informed/Patient Consent - None/Withdrawn · Lack of IRB/IACUC Approval and/or Compliance · Unreliable Data ·
- Commented on by
- Retracted
Authors and funding
14 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivePrior small-scale clinical trials showed that Artemisia annua and Artemisia afra infusions, decoctions, capsules, or tablets were low cost, easy to use, and efficient in curing malaria infections. In a larger-scale trial in Kalima district, Democratic Republic of Congo, we aimed to show A. annua and/or A. afra infusions were superior or at least equivalent to artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ) against malaria.
methodsA double blind, randomized clinical trial with 957 malaria-infected patients had two treatment arms: 472 patients for ASAQ and 471 for Artemisia (248 A. annua, 223 A. afra) remained at end of the trial. ASAQ-treated patients were treated per manufacturer posology, and Artemisia-treated patients received 1 l/d of dry leaf/twig infusions for 7 d; both arms had 28 d follow-up. Parasitemia and gametocytes were measured microscopically with results statistically compared among arms for age and gender.
resultsArtemisinin content of A. afra was negligible, but therapeutic responses of patients were similar to A. annua-treated patients; trophozoites cleared after 24 h, but took up to 14 d to clear in ASAQ-treated patients. D28 cure rates defined as absence of parasitemia were for pediatrics 82, 91, and 50% for A. afra, A. annua and ASAQ; while for adults cure rates were 91, 100, and 30%, respectively. Fever clearance took 48 h for ASAQ, but 24 h for Artemisia. From D14-28 no Artemisia-treated patients had microscopically detectable gametocytes, while 10 ASAQ-treated patients remained gametocyte carriers at D28. More females than males were gametocyte carriers in the ASAQ arm but were unaffected in the Artemisia arms. Hemoglobin remained constant at 11 g/dl for A. afra after D1, while for A. annua and ASAQ it decreased to 9-9.5 g/dl. Only 5.0% of Artemisia-treated patients reported adverse effects, vs. 42.8% for ASAQ.
conclusionA. annua and A. afra infusions are polytherapies with better outcomes than ASAQ against malaria. In contrast to ASAQ, both Artemisias appeared to break the cycle of malaria by eliminating gametocytes. This study merits further investigation for possible inclusion of Artemisia tea infusions as an alternative for fighting and eradicating malaria.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.