Phenothiazines: potential alternatives for the management of antibiotic resistant infections of tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries.
The in vitro and in vivo activity of phenothiazines against antibiotic susceptible and antibiotic resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis and malaria-causing Plasmodia is reviewed. Given the facts that pulmonary tuberculosis and malaria are the major causes of death in developing countries, that both of these infections continue to escalate in their resistance to antibiotics, that the cost for the management of these infections is beyond that afforded by most developing nations, and lastly, that new and effective agents are not forthcoming from the pharmaceutical industry, the scientific rationale for the potential use of select phenothiazines for the management of these infections is presented.
Amaral
L
L
Unit of Mycobacteriology, Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal. lamaral@ihmt.unl.pt
Viveiros
M
M
Kristiansen
J E
JE
D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003906:Developing Countries; D004351:Drug Resistance; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000187:drug effects; D010640:Phenothiazines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects; D013881:Thioridazine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018088:Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology
D000962:Antimalarials; D000995:Antitubercular Agents; D010640:Phenothiazines; D013881:Thioridazine