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Efficacy and safety of methylene blue in the treatment of malaria: a systematic review

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Medicine, April 2018
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (92nd percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (65th percentile)

Mentioned by

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1 news outlet
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27 X users
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1 patent
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1 Wikipedia page

Citations

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76 Dimensions

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205 Mendeley
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Title
Efficacy and safety of methylene blue in the treatment of malaria: a systematic review
Published in
BMC Medicine, April 2018
DOI 10.1186/s12916-018-1045-3
Pubmed ID
Authors

G. Lu, M. Nagbanshi, N. Goldau, M. Mendes Jorge, P. Meissner, A. Jahn, F. P. Mockenhaupt, O. Müller

Abstract

Methylene blue (MB) was the first synthetic antimalarial to be discovered and was used during the late 19th and early 20th centuries against all types of malaria. MB has been shown to be effective in inhibiting Plasmodium falciparum in culture, in the mouse model and in rhesus monkeys. MB was also shown to have a potent ex vivo activity against drug-resistant isolates of P. falciparum and P. vivax. In preclinical studies, MB acted synergistically with artemisinin derivates and demonstrated a strong effect on gametocyte reduction in P. falciparum. MB has, thus, been considered a potentially useful partner drug for artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), particularly when elimination is the final goal. The aim of this study was to review the scientific literature published until early 2017 to summarise existing knowledge on the efficacy and safety of MB in the treatment of malaria. This systematic review followed PRISMA guidelines. Studies reporting on the efficacy and safety of MB were systematically searched for in relevant electronic databases according to a pre-designed search strategy. The search (without language restrictions) was limited to studies of humans published until February 2017. Out of 474 studies retrieved, a total of 22 articles reporting on 21 studies were eligible for analysis. The 21 included studies that reported data on 1504 malaria patients (2/3 were children). Older studies were case series and reports on MB monotherapy while recent studies were mainly controlled trials of combination regimens. MB was consistently shown to be highly effective in all endemic areas and demonstrated a strong effect on P. falciparum gametocyte reduction and synergy with ACT. MB treatment was associated with mild urogenital and gastrointestinal symptoms as well as blue coloration of urine. In G6PD-deficient African individuals, MB caused a slight but clinically non-significant haemoglobin reduction. More studies are needed to define the effects of MB in P. falciparum malaria in areas outside Africa and against P. vivax malaria. Adding MB to ACT could be a valuable approach for the prevention of resistance development and for transmission reduction in control and elimination programs. This study is registered at PROSPERO (registration number CRD42017062349 ).

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 27 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 205 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 205 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 21 10%
Researcher 21 10%
Student > Bachelor 21 10%
Student > Master 17 8%
Student > Doctoral Student 14 7%
Other 30 15%
Unknown 81 40%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 30 15%
Chemistry 18 9%
Medicine and Dentistry 17 8%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 14 7%
Immunology and Microbiology 7 3%
Other 31 15%
Unknown 88 43%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 36. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 14 December 2023.
All research outputs
#1,131,560
of 25,481,734 outputs
Outputs from BMC Medicine
#802
of 4,032 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#24,633
of 339,951 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Medicine
#17
of 47 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,481,734 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 95th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,032 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 45.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 339,951 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 47 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 65% of its contemporaries.