Effective control of infection-associated hemophagocytic syndrome with chloroquine.

A retrospective study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy and the side effects of chloroquine in the treatment of 27 patients with infection-associated hemophagocytic syndrome and compared these with patients described in the literature. All patients received 20 to 25 mg/kg chloroquine per day orally for 7 days (a single course). Twenty-one patients who received one or two courses of treatment showed excellent responses; two patients showed no response to treatment. Two other patients refused to receive treatment with chloroquine. The response rate was 85.2%. Side effects were minimal and well tolerated. No relapses occurred in 19 patients. These results suggest that effective control of disease in some patients with infection-associated hemophagocytic syndrome can be achieved with chloroquine.