Comparative efficacy of meglumine antimoniate and aminosidine sulphate, alone or in combination, in canine leishmaniasis.

Thirty-two domestic dogs naturally infected with Leishmania infantum and showing viscero-cutaneous signs of canine leishmaniasis were treated with aminosidine sulphate (11 dogs) meglumine antimoniate (10 dogs) or with a combination of the two drugs (11 dogs) for 21 consecutive days. Clinical and laboratory assessments, made on day 21 and at 2, 4 and 6 months after initiation of treatment, showed that the drug combination gave the best score in terms of clinical efficacy, incidences of early clinical relapse, any clinical relapse or apparent parasitological cure, and reduction in parasite densities in bone-marrow and lymphnode aspirates (even though a lower dose of antimonial was used in the combination than for antimonial monotherapy). For each of the above parameters, however, the higher efficacy of the drug combination was not statistically significant, probably because of the large variations caused by using naturally infected animals of various ages and breeds.