Evaluation of allopurinol in the treatment of kala-azar occurring in North Bihar, India.

Allopurinol, at doses of 300 to 1,200 mg per day for at least 14 days, was tested on 17 hospital patients with confirmed kala-azar. 14 of these were considered "cured" on clinical grounds and eight of these were confirmed by the absence of amastigotes in the bone marrow. Four were not examined parasitologically and two remained infected. Before further clinical trials of allopurinol are undertaken it is important to assess the role of its metabolites.