Infection of Anopheles darlingi fed on patients infected with Plasmodium vivax before and during treatment with chloroquine in Costa Marques, Rondonia, Brazil.

Patients with asexual and sexual parasites of Plasmodium vivax were treated orally with 600 mg of chloroquine diphosphate at hour zero, followed by 300 mg at 8, 24 and 48 hr. Anopheles darlingi were fed before the first dose (-0.5 hr) and at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 20, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 hr later. Mosquitoes were examined for oocysts on day 8 and sporozoites on day 15 after infection. The frequency of infected mosquitoes and the mean number of oocysts were lower in mosquitoes that fed on patients 2-4 hr after the initial dose of chloroquine than in mosquitoes fed before treatment and at 0.5 and 1 hr. This sporontocidal effect was temporary, since the frequency of infected mosquitoes and the mean number of oocysts increased in mosquitoes fed 4-8 hr after the first dose. Nearly all mosquitoes fed on patients after the third dose of chloroquine, at 24 hr, were negative for P. vivax oocysts. Oocysts in mosquitoes fed on patients before, during, and after chloroquine treatment appeared normal and produced sporozoites. We conclude that chloroquine affects either the gametocytes, fertilization, zygotes, and/or ookinetes of P. vivax, but not subsequent stages of development.