Atabrine

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A synthetic compound used as an antimalarial agent to prevent or treat malaria infection; also utilized for its effectiveness against certain parasitic diseases; occasionally considered for experimental medical applications
2. A man-made chemical employed primarily to combat malaria by inhibiting parasite growth; sometimes prescribed to treat related tropical diseases; known for its use in historical and clinical medicine
3. A pharmaceutical drug developed to counter malaria by disrupting parasite life cycles; applied in therapy for some blood parasites; historically significant in infectious disease control efforts

Etymology: Atabrine was a synthetic antimalarial drug developed in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, and its name is a trade name rather than a word built from older roots. The drug was made by the German chemical firm Bayer, which first synthesised quinacrine in 1930 as a substitute for quinine, the natural bark-derived remedy whose supply was unreliable. Its trade name, Atabrine, was adopted in the United States, where it became widely used. During the Second World War, Atabrine became central to Allied malaria control in the Pacific, because Japan had seized most of the world's quinine supply. Soldiers were given the tablets routinely, and they caused a yellowish skin tint, which earned the drug a reputation as an unpleasant but necessary treatment. Its name survives mainly as a historical label for that wartime medicine.

Synonyms: quinacrine, antimalarial, quinacrine hydrochloride