COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF MEGLUMINE ANTIMONIATE AND AMINOSIDINE SULFATE, ALONE OR IN COMBINATION, IN CANINE LEISHMANIASIS

Thirty-two domestic dogs naturally infected with Leishmania infantum a nd showing viscero-cutaneous signs of canine leishmaniasis were treate d with aminosidine sulphate (11 dogs), meglumine antimoniate (10 dogs) or with a combination of the two drugs (11 dogs) for 21 consecutive d ays. Clinical and laboratory assessments, made on day 21 and at 2, 4 a nd 6 months after initiation of treatment, showed that the drug combin ation gave the best score in terms of clinical efficacy, incidences of early clinical relapse, any clinical relapse or apparent parasitologi cal cure, and reduction in parasite densities in bone-marrow and lymph node aspirates (even though a lower dose of antimonial was used in the combination than for antimonial monotherapy). For each of the above p arameters, however, the higher efficacy of the drug combination was no t statistically significant, probably because of the large variations caused by using naturally infected animals of various ages and breeds.