What does atabrine mean?
Atabrine is the best-known trade name for quinacrine, a synthetic compound introduced in the 1930s as an alternative to quinine for preventing and treating malaria. The drug became famous during World War II, when Japanese conquests cut off Allied access to cinchona bark plantations, leaving atabrine as the principal protection for American and other Allied troops in the Pacific and North Africa. Daily doses were mandatory, and the drug's tendency to turn the skin a yellowish tint made compliance a visible, sometimes resented, mark of service in malarial zones. Although it was highly effective against the malaria parasite, side effects and the postwar arrival of chloroquine gradually displaced it. Today atabrine survives mainly in historical accounts of wartime medicine, while the generic terms quinacrine and mepacrine are used in medical writing.
nounAtabrine is a proprietary name for quinacrine, an antimalarial drug widely used before and during World War II, later largely superseded by chloroquine.
- A synthetic antimalarial drug; the trade name for quinacrine (also called mepacrine), used especially by Allied forces during World War II.
"Soldiers stationed in the Pacific were required to take their daily dose of atabrine to guard against malaria."
"Malaria rates dropped sharply once troops complied with the weekly atabrine regimen."
"The long-term use of atabrine gave some veterans a distinctly sallow complexion."
Rarely pluralized; the word normally appears as an uncountable mass noun referring to the drug itself. A plural would occur only when counting individual doses or tablet types.
"The field kit included several atabrines alongside quinine tablets."
During World War II, American GIs in the Pacific took so much atabrine that it turned their skin yellow — yet it kept them alive where malaria killed more soldiers than combat did.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of atabrine
Atabrine was coined in the 1930s as a commercial trade name, reportedly combining 'Ata-' from its developer, the German chemical firm later associated with Bayer's antimalarial research, with '-brine' following the pattern of chemical-sounding drug names ending in '-ine'. The word entered English through pharmaceutical advertising rather than classical roots. Its '-ine' suffix echoes a broad family of chemical and drug names such as bromine, chlorine, and iodine, which derive from Latin and French adjectival endings.
How atabrine is actually used
Atabrine is a former trademark name (originally registered in the United States) and is now chiefly of historical interest, appearing mostly in writing about World War II medicine or the history of pharmacology. The generic names quinacrine (US) and mepacrine (British) are preferred in modern medical contexts.
Easily confused with atabrine
Quinine is a natural alkaloid derived from cinchona bark, whereas atabrine (quinacrine) is a synthetic antimalarial developed in the 1920s–30s as a substitute when quinine supplies were scarce.