Chemotherapy of experimental visceral leishmaniasis in the opossum.
Visceral leishmaniasis is a severe chronic disease of people and animals. The disease is caused by several subspecies of a protozoal organism, Leishmania donovani. If not treated, visceral leishmaniasis is often fatal. The most commonly used chemotherapeutic agents to treat the disease are pentavalent antimonials, which can be toxic, must be administered by parenteral routes, and are sometimes ineffective. In this study, meglumine antimoniate, a pentavalent antimony, was compared with WR 6026, an 8-aminoquinoline derivative, as to antileishmanial efficacy. The results indicate that either of these 2 drugs are effective in the suppression of amastigotes in the liver and spleen of the opossum. Despite the marked parasite suppression in the liver and spleen of the infected opossums, the experimental disease was fatal in all of the infected opossums, regardless of the therapy.
White
M R
MR
Department of Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens 30602.
Chapman
W L
WL
Hanson
W L
WL
D000634:Aminoquinolines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008099:Liver / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D008536:Meglumine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000077485:Meglumine Antimoniate; D009893:Opossums / Q000469:parasitology; D009929:Organ Size; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013012:Sorbitol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D013154:Spleen / Q000469:parasitology
D000634:Aminoquinolines; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D013012:Sorbitol; D008536:Meglumine; D000077485:Meglumine Antimoniate; C080436:8-aminoquinoline