Antimony to Cure Visceral Leishmaniasis Unresponsive to Liposomal Amphotericin B

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2016 Jan 6;10(1):e0004304. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004304. eCollection 2016 Jan.

Abstract

We report on 4 patients (1 immunocompetent, 3 immunosuppressed) in whom visceral leishmaniasis had become unresponsive to (or had relapsed after) treatment with appropriate doses of liposomal amphotericin B. Under close follow-up, full courses of pentavalent antimony were administered without life-threatening adverse events and resulted in rapid and sustained clinical and parasitological cure.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Amphotericin B / therapeutic use*
  • Antimony / therapeutic use*
  • Antiprotozoal Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Leishmania donovani / drug effects*
  • Leishmaniasis, Visceral / drug therapy*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Antiprotozoal Agents
  • liposomal amphotericin B
  • Amphotericin B
  • Antimony

Grants and funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.