Talk:Quinine
From Academic Kids
Is it known how this drug works? AxelBoldt 18:13 Oct 8, 2002 (UTC)
- As far as I know, it just brings down fevers, and that's all the treatment it gives you. How it does that, I don't think anyone knows. Like most drugs, it just sort of works. Think anyone knows how acetaminophen (Tylenol) works? Think again... Graft 18:23 Oct 8, 2002 (UTC)
- "It just sort of works" stopped being an acceptable answer back in the days of witch doctors. See "Method of action" under acetaminophen and stop misinforming people.
- Here how it quinine anti-malarial ability is believed to work: "exert selective toxicity towards the erythrocytic stages of malaria parasites" and "exerts its anti-malarial effects by interacting with the hemoglobin degradation process within the parasite, probably through an interaction with hematin" and finally "Much evidence has accumulated to support the hypothesis that quinoline type blood schizontocides exert their antimalarial activity through interacting with hematin" according to http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=105975 all of this can be summed up as "The theorized mechanism of action for Quinine and related anti-malarial drugs is that these drugs are toxic to the malaria parasite, specifically be interfering with the parasite’s ability to degrade and digest hemoglobin, thus starving the parasite or causing the build up of toxic levels of partially degraded hemoglobin in the parasite."--BerserkerBen 20:47, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)
What is the significance of the reaction shown toward the bottom of the page? Are either of the products important? Without some explanation it seems like a rather strange thing to have there.. why oxidize to the two carboxylic acids? Veritol 24 April 2005
Are there any other significant uses for Quinine?
I only ask as I’ve had a sore throat for the past 2 weeks and go to the point where I lost my voice. I had been taking throat lozenges occasionally for the two weeks to relieve the pain and that worked well but the antibacterial seemed to be rather ineffective... I decided to see if Quinine would/could make any difference. After drinking tonic water w/Quinine for about two days I found that I was expelling the infection and have managed to recover my voice. I guess my real question is: Why has a $3(NZ) bottle of Schweppes Tonic water w/Quinine in it helped more than pharmaceutical products designed for the purpose?
Possible extra image
I've uploaded an image for tonic water (Image:Tonic water uv.jpg) showing the fluorescence of quinine. It might make an interesting addition to this article (but probably not to Canada Dry or black light) Splarka 00:30, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
