New potential therapies for cryptosporidiosis: an analysis of variables affecting drug efficacy.
Cryptosporidium parvum, the protozoan responsible for cryptosporidiosis, continues to defy eradication with existing therapies. A review of the anticryptosporidial activity of several drugs in the dexamethasone-immunosuppressed rat model illustrates the multitude of factors that may contribute to the difficulty of assessing a drug's therapeutic efficacy against the protozoan and provides possible explanation for drug failure at the level of host-parasite interaction.
Rehg
J
J
Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105.
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017963:Azithromycin / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003049:Coccidiostats / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D016785:Cryptosporidium parvum / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D004350:Drug Residues; D005260:Female; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D007420:Intestine, Large / Q000469:parasitology; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000469:parasitology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D003049:Coccidiostats; D017963:Azithromycin