Getting sick when you’re pregnant can be scary enough without having to stress about whether popping pills that might ease your symptoms will harm your growing baby. “One of the biggest things pregnant women are afraid of is ingesting something that may cause birth defects or negatively impact the baby’s development. Doctors usually tell women to avoid medicines during pregnancy, if possible, especially during the first 3 months. That is when a baby’s organs form. But sometimes you have to take medicine to treat a health problem, such as high blood pressure, asthma or severe malaria.
Can I take Lonart Ds Tab during pregnancy?
Lonart DS is a combination of Artemether and lumefantrine Marketed in Nigeria by Greenlife Pharmaceuticals. It is used to treat malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum that is not treatable with chloroquine. It is not typically used to prevent malaria. Malaria infection during pregnancy can result in serious maternal and fetal complications.
Previously, there is limited data available regarding safety profile of artemisinins in early pregnancy. They are, therefore, not recommended by WHO as a first-line treatment for malaria in first trimester due to associated embryo-foetal toxicity in animal studies.
In updated guidance published in MMWR, the CDC recommends that artemether-lumefantrine (Lonart) should be included as a treatment option for uncomplicated malaria during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, and during the first trimester of pregnancy when other treatment options are unavailable. Doctors may give this medicine to a pregnant women under critical situations where alternate antimalarial medicine is not able to treat the condition.
Can I take Lonart Ds Tab while breastfeeding?
Lonart (Artemether and lumefantrine) have not been studied in nursing mothers. Estimates of its excretion into breastmilk indicate that amounts in milk are very low. However, it is advised not to breastfeed your baby during the treatment with Lonart. You have to wait for at least 1 week post-treatment to start breastfeeding again. READ: Can I Take Malaria Drugs With Antibiotics?
