Comparative study of aminosidine, etophamide and nimorazole, alone or in combination, in the treatment of intestinal amoebiasis in Kenya.

417 patients suffering from intestinal amoebiasis were randomly allocated to 6 different treatment groups in a controlled study in 3 District Hospitals in Kenya. The patients received either aminosidine (A), etophamide (E), nimorazole (N), or the combinations NA, NE, EA. Treatment in all cases was given twice daily for 5 days. Before and after treatment, rectosigmoidoscopy was done in each patient, and stool examination with characterization of invasive (IF) and non invasive (NIF) forms of amoeba was done daily throughout treatment, and on Days 15, 30 and 60 of follow-up. Clinical cure was good after all the treatments, varying from 90 to 100%; parasitological cure at the end of treatment was 100% in the NA and EA treatments groups, and 98% in A group. The incidence of relapses was nil in the EA group, followed by 3% in NA and 6% in A groups. Anatomical cure (healing of ulcers) was 97.8% in the NA group, 95.5% in the N group and 88.5% in the A group. Drug tolerance was excellent or good after all the treatments, except that the EA combination produced diarrhoea in 76.5% of patients. Overall analysis of the findings, including tolerance of the various treatments, showed that aminosidine either alone or in combination with nimorazole gave the best results. Ulcers seen on rectosigmoidoscopy were more common in patients excreting invasive forms of amoebae in their stools.