BACKGROUND There have been few studies on pentamidine in the Americas; and there is no consensus regarding the dose that should be applied. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the use of pentamidine in a single dose to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis. METHODS Clinical trial of phase II pilot study with 20 patients. Pentamidine was used at a dose of 7 mg/kg, in a single dose. Safety and adverse effects wer...

An estimate of the absolute pulmonary deposition of nebulised pentamidine isethionate was obtained in nine patients with AIDS. Two nebuliser systems were compared, System 22 Mizer (Medic-Aid) and Respirgard II (Marquest), with 50 and 150 mg doses of pentamidine in a 3 ml solution driven by an air flow of 6 l/min with the patient in the sitting position. The 50 mg pentamidine dose was repeated w...

Sir, In the case of American cutaneous leishmaniasis, the risk of serious morbidity from cutaneous and mucocutaneous forms requires highly effective parenteral therapy. Pentavalent antimony compounds have been the mainstay of antileish-manial therapy for half a century. However, despite high effectiveness, these drugs require long duration regimens and cause frequent and serious toxic effects. ...

FUNDAMENTALS American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) treatment remains a challenge, since most available drugs are injectable and only a small number of comparative, randomized clinical trials have been performed to support their use. Moreover, treatment outcome may depend on the causative species of Leishmania. OBJECTIVES To evaluate and compare the efficacy and tolerability of meglumine an...

Ten Kenyan patients with visceral leishmaniasis unresponsive to sodium stibogluconate, at a dose of 16 to 20 mg Sb/kg body-weight/day given for 30 to 98 days, were treated with 20 mg Sb/kg bw given every eight hours. This regimen was modified or abandoned in six patients because of suspected toxicity, although toxicity was difficult to assess because of intercurrent illness. Toxic effects inclu...

age. To her children, she was a loving mother; to her co-workers, she was a caring human being and dedicated public health worker; to the world, she was a herald of the AIDS epidemic, playing a major role in alerting the world to the onset of this epidemic. In January 1979, Sandy took a position in the Parasitic Diseases Division in the Centers for Disease Control, now the Centers for Disease C...

At the beginning of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) era, nearly 15 yrs ago, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) was the most common human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related complication. PCP represented about 60% of the initial case-defining events of AIDS patients [1]. Almost 80% of HIV and AIDS patients experienced at least one episode of PCP in the course of their HIV infec...

Treatment with either pentamidine isethionate or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole significantly reduces the mortality of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. It is not known whether a combination might act in an additive, synergistic, or antagonistic manner. We studied the interaction of these two agents in the steroid-conditioned rat model of pneumocystosis. Of animals receiving pentamidine alone, 48%...