Malaria Tablets and Other Medications

Sometimes, some medications interact badly with other medications and cause one or both to stop working properly. Therefore, it is always best to check with your doctor that the malaria tablets you are taking do not interfere with any medication that you are on and vice versa. If this is the case, you may need to use a different anti-malarial or the dose of your medication may need to be changed.

If you are going to take Chloroquine, you should be aware that anti-epileptic drugs can affect the way the Chloroquine works. It can also interact with the other malaria tablet Mefloquine and these two malaria tablets are not usually prescribed together. Chloroquine can also interact badly with halofantrine so mention to your doctor if you are already using any of these medications.


Doxycycline can also interact with anti-epileptic drugs. The drugs can break down Doxycycline faster than usual so it is not as effective in the body. This may mean that your dose of malaria tablet may have to be changed in order to combat these effects. You shouldn’t use Doxycycline if you are using hepato-toxic medications and if you are using cyclosporine, the malaria tablets may increase the levels of the drug in the blood and cause more side effects. It may also increase the anti-coagulant properties of the drug Warfarin.

Malarone may interact with Rifabutin, Rifampicin and Warfarin so talk to your doctor about the potential problems this may cause. Mefloquine and Doxycycline may interact with the BCG vaccine which is given to provide immunity against Tuberculosis so if you need this vaccination, talk to your doctor about the effects it may have on malaria tablets.

It is important to note that Doxycycline may have an adverse effect on the contraceptive pill. It may cause the pill to stop working properly and you will need to use extra protection for the duration of your malaria tablets. Ask your doctor for advice because findings are inconclusive as to the effects on the contraceptive pill.

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