Blanshard C, Ellis D S, Tovey D G, Dowell S, Gazzard B G
AIDS Unit, Westminster-Hospital, London, UK.
AIDS. 1992 Mar;6(3):311-3. doi: 10.1097/00002030-199203000-00009.
To determine the clinical and parasitological response to treatment of intestinal microsporidiosis with albendazole.
Open prospective study.
Hospital-based HIV/genito-urinary medicine unit.
PATIENTS, PARTICIPANTS: Six consecutive AIDS patients with small intestinal microsporidiosis as the only identified cause of diarrhoea after intensive gastrointestinal investigations.
Diarrhoea resolved completely in all patients within 1 week of starting treatment, and body weight stabilized or increased. Four patients who relapsed at 19-31 days after the cessation of treatment responded to a second course of albendazole. Degenerative changes occurred in the parasites after treatment, which had not been seen either in pre-treatment biopsies or, in four patients, following therapy with other drugs.
Albenazole is a useful palliative treatment for microsporidial diarrhoea.
