A 13-year follow-up of antimony-treated Schistosoma mansoni-infected patients.
Thirty consecutive patients who were treated for Schistosoma mansoni infection with antimony sodium dimercaptosuccinate (Astiban) during the 1960s, and who had not visited an endemic area since the treatment, were reexamined 11 to 17 (average 13) years after the last presumed exposure. Seven of them (23%) still had active infections, six being chronic infections of which only one had been treated in an acute stage. None of the patients with chronic S. mansoni infection had signs of changes in liver, gut, or other organs, and all were able to work at full capacity. Living eggs were found in rectal biopsy specimens from all cases, but in only two cases in stool specimens. Serological reactions were positive in three cases and also in two of the egg-negative cases. Skin tests gave immediate positive reactions in 6 of 7 egg-positive and in 11 of 23 egg-negative patients.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000965:Antimony / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology
D000965:Antimony