Immunochemotherapy for visceral leishmaniasis: a controlled pilot trial of antimony versus antimony plus interferon-gamma.
Twenty-four Kenyan patients with visceral leishmaniasis were treated for 30 days with either conventional therapy (daily pentavalent antimony, n = 14) or experimental immunochemotherapy (daily antimony plus interferon-gamma [IFN-gamma] every other day, n = 10). All 24 patients responded clinically to treatment, and microscopic splenic aspirate scores rapidly decreased in both groups. As judged by splenic aspirate culture results, IFN-gamma-treated patients responded more quickly (50% versus 22% culture-negative after one week and 75% versus 58% culture-negative after two weeks). While not statistically significant, these differences raise the possibility that combination therapy using IFN-gamma, which was safe and well-tolerated, may accelerate the early parasitologic response in patients with visceral leishmaniasis.
Division of Infectious Diseases, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York.
K E
KE
Squires
F
F
Rosenkaimer
J A
JA
Sherwood
A L
AL
Forni
J B
JB
Were
H W
HW
Murray
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000967:Antimony Sodium Gluconate / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D013154:Spleen / Q000469:parasitology
D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D000967:Antimony Sodium Gluconate