Two rare and severe surgical complications of intramuscular quinine and intrarectal quinine administration

Quinine by intramuscular or intrarectal injection has been found to be the best treatment for malaria in Niger particularly In field health centres where the use of solutions can pose problems. There have been several reports of complications following injections, usually due to technical error or to the toxic side effects of quinine. In our hospital, we treated two such rare complications consisting of a case of coxal osteoarthritis induced by intramuscular injection and a case of anorectal necrotising Induced by intrarectal injection. The occurrence of such life-threatening events could be reduced in frequency by teaching health personnel about techniques of quinine administration as well as its dangers.