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Treatment of the estimated 500,000 cases of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) that occur annually is hampered by lack of affordable, safe drugs. In a multicenter trial in India, researchers compared the safety and efficacy of the aminoglycoside paromomycin with those of amphotericin B, the drug currently used to treat VL in India. They randomly assigned (in a 3:1 ratio) 667 HIV-negative patients, aged 5 to 55 years, with parasitologically confirmed VL to receive intramuscular paromomycin daily for 21 days or intravenous amphotericin every other day for 30 days (15 infusions). Participants were hospitalized and monitored during the treatment and followed for another 6 months.
Cure rates 6 months after the end of treatment were similar between group…