Chloroquine is a famous antimalarial agent that has been used for many years in the treatment and prevention of malaria. Edwin Yenli and co-workers in Ghana have now published a surprising new property for this drug. Injection of Chloroquine in patients with pain after scorpion sting caused rapid (within 5 min.) pain relief in the six patient tested. The effect was much more rapid than seen with the use of traditional analgesics like Lidocaine.
The mechanism of action of Chloroquine is unknown, but it may contain a antitoxic property.
It is important to note that this is a small observational study on six patients and that more testing is probably necessary before we know for sure about the effects of Chloroquine against pain from scorpion stings.
Reference:
Yenli EMT, Ziem JB, Hillah B, Wegdam HHJ. Managing scorpion stings in the tropics: Chloroquine as an effective drug. Tropical Doctor. 2010;40(2):119-20.
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