Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala Azar)

A chronic disease caused by LEISHMANIA DONOVANI and transmitted by the bite of several sandflies of the genera Phlebotomus and Lutzomyia. It is commonly characterized by fever, chills, vomiting, anemia, hepatosplenomegaly, leukopenia, hypergammaglobulinemia, emaciation, and an earth-gray color of the skin. The disease is classified into three main types according to geographic distribution: Indian, Mediterranean (or infantile), and African.

Also Known As:

Networked: 4112 relevant articles (464 outcomes, 566 trials/studies)

Relationship Network

Disease Context: Research Results

Related Diseases

1.	Infections
2.	Leishmaniasis
3.	Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala Azar)
4.	Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
5.	Mycoses (Diseases, Fungus)

Experts

1.	Sundar, Shyam: 171 articles (08/2022 - 09/2002)
2.	Das, Pradeep: 94 articles (10/2022 - 07/2007)
3.	Dube, Anuradha: 60 articles (07/2022 - 11/2004)
4.	Pandey, Krishna: 57 articles (10/2022 - 01/2005)
5.	Coelho, Eduardo A F: 54 articles (06/2022 - 12/2009)
6.	Reis, Alexandre Barbosa: 48 articles (01/2022 - 06/2004)
7.	Lage, Daniela P: 45 articles (06/2022 - 01/2013)
8.	Chávez-Fumagalli, Miguel A: 44 articles (06/2022 - 12/2009)
9.	Boelaert, Marleen: 43 articles (01/2019 - 01/2004)
10.	Ramos, Fernanda F: 41 articles (06/2022 - 01/2016)

Drugs and Biologics

Drugs and Important Biological Agents (IBA) related to Visceral Leishmaniasis:

1.	liposomal amphotericin BFDA Link 10/01/2002 - "Liposomal amphotericin B is a new drug which is highly efficacious in the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis and produces minimal toxicity. " 05/01/1996 - "Liposomal amphotericin B is a promising new drug which is highly efficacious in the treatment of Indian kala-azar and produces minimal toxicity." 01/01/2021 - "Friedman test showed statistically significant difference between response of different anti kala-azar drugs (F = 25.0, P = 0.004).The initial and final cure rate of AmBisome was found excellent (100%). " 02/22/2018 - "We report in this article 4 cases of visceral leishmaniasis treated with amphotericin B lipid complex (Abelcet) following the guidelines with complete remission. " 01/01/2009 - "Treatment with liposomal amphotericin B proved to be very effective in this severe case of visceral leishmaniasis."
2.	Amphotericin B (Amphotericin)FDA LinkGeneric 01/15/2012 - "Amphotericin B (AmB), is a highly effective antileishmanial agent used as first-line treatment in different formulations in visceral leishmaniasis endemic areas of Bihar, India. " 11/01/1999 - "This patient never received highly active antiretroviral treatment and the visceral leishmaniasis could not be cured even with liposomal amphotericin. " 06/01/2018 - "To evaluate the evidence for use of different formulations of amphotericin B (AmB), minimum effective dose for each formulation and its comparative efficacy against other drugs in achieving definitive cure of visceral leishmaniasis. " 03/01/2018 - "Comparing the therapeutic efficacy of different amphotericin B-carrying delivery systems against visceral leishmaniasis." 05/01/1999 - "Out of 938 parasitologically confirmed patients with visceral leishmaniasis treated with amphotericin B (1 mg/kg bodyweight daily infused in 2 h for 20 days), 935 were cured clinically, 933 parasitologically and 931 ultimately (no relapse within 6 months). "
3.	miltefosine (Impavido)IBA 05/01/2007 - "Oral miltefosine, which is very effective in visceral leishmaniasis caused by L. " 01/01/2023 - "A case of canine visceral leishmaniasis of unknown origin in Curitiba (state of Paraná, Brazil) treated successfully with miltefosine." 10/01/2019 - "In India, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania donovani has been successfully treated with miltefosine with a cure rate of > 90%. " 10/01/2018 - "Miltefosine has been used successfully to treat visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in India, but it was unsuccessful for VL in a clinical trial in Brazil. " 11/01/2020 - "Conventional miltefosine dosing (2.5 mg/kg/day) for treatment of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is less effective in children than in adults. "
4.	VaccinesIBA 10/31/2022 - "Therefore, efficient vaccine development is the best approach to Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis (CVL) control. " 03/01/1999 - "Until a safe and effective vaccine is developed, a combination of sandfly control, detection and treatment of patients and prevention of drug resistance is the best approach for controlling kala-azar." 01/01/2022 - "infantum transfected with a toxic plasmid is an excellent vaccine candidate against visceral leishmaniasis and the application of a boost before the challenge promotes greater protection against WT L. " 01/01/2017 - "This is an important demonstration of vaccine protection against visceral leishmaniasis using a natural challenge model." 01/01/2020 - "Currently, there is one live vaccine for humans licensed in Uzbekistan, and four licensed veterinary vaccines against visceral leishmaniasis: Leishmune® (76-80% VE) and CaniLeish® (68.4% VE), which give protection against strong endpoints (severe disease and deaths under natural conditions), and, under less severe endpoints (parasitologically and PCR-positive cases), Leishtec® developed 71.4% VE in a low infective pressure area but only 35.7% VE and transient protection in a high infective pressure area, while Letifend® promoted 72% VE. "
5.	AntigensIBA 01/01/2019 - "These results indicate that rKDDR is a highly promising candidate for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis, and is more accurate than the currently used gold-standard antigens." 01/01/2012 - "Despite negative results of rk-39 test and bone marrow biopsy, a very high suspicion for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) led us to go for direct agglutination test (DAT) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for leishmanial antigen that revealed positive results. " 04/30/2001 - "GP36 induced significant protection against murine visceral leishmaniasis at concentrations commonly used for vaccination with recombinant antigens." 10/05/2016 - "Novel Antigen Detection Assay to Monitor Therapeutic Efficacy of Visceral Leishmaniasis." 08/01/2015 - "Evaluation of the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of killed Leishmania donovani antigen along with different adjuvants against experimental visceral leishmaniasis."
6.	AntimonyIBA 12/01/2005 - "In conclusion, the present study showed that multiple dose treatment with LMA was effective in improving antimony levels in the bone marrow of dogs with visceral leishmaniasis and in reducing the number of positive animals, even though it was not sufficient to achieve complete elimination of parasites." 01/01/2008 - "An aqueous extract of human placenta (HPE) was found to offer protection against established experimental visceral leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice and hamsters, whether the Leishmania donovani strain involved was one that was sensitive or resistant to pentavalent antimony. " 04/08/2013 - "The efficacy of this vaccination regimen in a murine and hamster model of visceral leishmaniasis caused by both antimony resistant (Sb-R) and sensitive (Sb-S) Leishmania (L.) donovani is examined. " 10/15/2008 - "In Bihar, India, home to nearly one-half of the world's burden of visceral leishmaniasis, drug resistance has ended the usefulness of pentavalent antimony, which is the traditional first-line treatment. " 12/01/2002 - "In recent years, there has been a steady erosion in the efficacy of pentavalent antimony to cure visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India. "
7.	Proteins (Proteins, Gene)FDA Link 01/01/2018 - "In this study, a Leishmania hypothetical protein, LiHyS, was evaluated regarding its antigenicity, immunogenicity and protective efficacy against visceral leishmaniasis (VL). " 08/01/2020 - "Evaluation of the protective efficacy of a Leishmania protein associated with distinct adjuvants against visceral leishmaniasis and in vitro immunogenicity in human cells." 01/01/2018 - "Antigenicity, immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a conserved Leishmania hypothetical protein against visceral leishmaniasis." 01/01/2015 - "Correction: Antigenicity, Immunogenicity and Protective Efficacy of Three Proteins Expressed in the Promastigote and Amastigote Stages of Leishmania infantum against Visceral Leishmaniasis." 01/01/2015 - "Antigenicity, Immunogenicity and Protective Efficacy of Three Proteins Expressed in the Promastigote and Amastigote Stages of Leishmania infantum against Visceral Leishmaniasis."
8.	Antimony Sodium Gluconate (Sodium, Stibogluconate)IBA 04/01/2007 - "In most of the Indian subcontinent, the first line treatment for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is sodium stibogluconate (SSG), an antimonial drug, but the efficacy of the drug varies according to region. " 06/01/1996 - "The implementation of action plan not only established declining trends in morbidity and mortality due to Visceral Leishmaniasis in the district but also successfully contained the cases unresponsive to first line treatment with Sodium Stibogluconate by reducing the prevalence of such cases from 12.42% in 1992 to 8.59% in 1994. " 03/01/1998 - "Results of the study show that treatment of cases of Kala-azar with sodium stibogluconate in a dosage of 20 mg/kg/day for a longer period of 30 days is effective with a higher cure rate and minimum side effects, for treatment of cases of Kala-azar in this eastern part of Nepal, endemic for the disease." 01/01/2016 - "After getting full dose of sodium stibogluconate as per the national visceral leishmaniasis treatment guideline, was clinically cured. " 01/01/1977 - "At low concentrations, sodium stibogluconate, the drug of choice for kala azar treatment in Iraq proved to be poorly effective in the prevention of promastigotes growth in vitro. "
9.	Liposomes (Liposome)IBA 10/01/2014 - "Mixed formulation of conventional and pegylated liposomes as a novel drug delivery strategy for improved treatment of visceral leishmaniasis." 01/01/2012 - "Subcutaneous immunization of BALB/c mice with SLA entrapped in liposomes or with MPL-TDM elicited partial protection against experimental visceral leishmaniasis. " 09/09/2020 - "This work addresses the preparation of BER-loaded liposomes with the aim to prevent its rapid liver metabolism and improve the drug selective delivery to the infected organs in visceral leishmaniasis (VL). " 07/01/2018 - "This work emphasizes the importance of liposomes as potential drug delivery systems for visceral leishmaniasis." 03/01/2012 - "These results show the potential of PS-liposome formulations for the successful targeted delivery of BPQ in visceral leishmaniasis."
10.	Paromomycin (Paromomycin Sulfate)FDA LinkGeneric 01/01/2015 - "Though the impact of these findings should be further explored, the study results suggest that the epidemiological implications of acquired paromomycin-resistance may remain minimal other than the loss of one of the last remaining drugs effective against visceral leishmaniasis. " 11/01/2021 - "Intramuscular paromomycin monotherapy to treat visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has been shown to be effective for Indian patients, while a similar regimen resulted in lower efficacy in Eastern Africa, which could be related to differences in paromomycin pharmacokinetics. " 04/18/1998 - "A 21 day course of aminosidine 16 or 20 mg/kg/day should be considered as first line treatment for visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar." 01/01/2015 - "Effectiveness Study of Paromomycin IM Injection (PMIM) for the Treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) in Bangladesh." 01/01/2011 - "Phase 4 pharmacovigilance trial of paromomycin injection for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis in India."

Therapies and Procedures

1.	Therapeutics 11/01/1993 - "We conclude that combination therapy is tolerated well and is highly effective in patients with visceral leishmaniasis. " 07/01/1991 - "Of 18 patients who were negative by smears but positive by DAT, 3 were treated on strong clinical suspicion of kala-azar and responded well to therapy. " 01/01/2013 - "We conducted a systematic literature review with indirect comparison of studies evaluating therapeutic efficacy and toxicity associated to visceral leishmaniasis (VL) therapy among HIV infected individuals. " 08/25/2023 - "For the past 15 years, trials of combination therapy options for visceral leishmaniasis have been conducted with the aim of identifying effective, and safe treatment regimens that were shorter than existing monotherapy regimens and could also prevent or delay the emergence of drug resistance. " 01/01/2013 - "Efficacy of anti-leishmania therapy in visceral leishmaniasis among HIV infected patients: a systematic review with indirect comparison."
2.	Drug Therapy (Chemotherapy) 03/01/1983 - "Efficacy of combined immunostimulation and chemotherapy in experimental visceral Leishmaniasis." 01/01/2012 - "We believe these findings support further study of the potential of RF07 as a possible alternative for the chemotherapy of visceral leishmaniasis." 02/01/1987 - "These studies on patients with visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, north India, support previous observations regarding T cell unresponsiveness in patients with active disease: it is profound, it is specific, and it is reversible after successful chemotherapy. " 01/01/1983 - "Liposomal chemotherapy in visceral leishmaniasis: an ultrastructural study of an intracellular pathway." 07/01/2022 - "Immunotherapeutic strategies against visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are pertinent because of the emergence of resistance against existing chemotherapy, coupled with their toxicity and high costs. "
3.	Immunotherapy 01/01/2023 - "Immunotherapy and immunochemotherapy in combating visceral leishmaniasis." 09/01/2022 - "Immunotherapy for visceral leishmaniasis: A trapeze of balancing counteractive forces." 01/01/2019 - "The use of CTLA-4 checkpoint inhibitors may emerge as a potential immunotherapy to ameliorate the immune response in visceral leishmaniasis patients." 03/01/2014 - "These findings encouraged us to use rLdccys1 in the immunotherapy of naturally infected dogs from Teresina, Piauí, a region of high incidence of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil. " 01/01/2014 - "Immunity to visceral leishmaniasis: implications for immunotherapy."
4.	Aftercare (After-Treatment) 02/25/2000 - "The results of the present study indicate that kala-azar patients, who have a high risk of developing PKDL after treatment can be identified by measuring plasma CRP." 09/26/2021 - "According to our findings, patients with visceral leishmaniasis had improved hematological profiles after treatment. " 09/26/2021 - "Hematological profiles of visceral leishmaniasis patients before and after treatment of anti-leishmanial drugs at University of Gondar Hospital; Leishmania Research and Treatment Center Northwest, Ethiopia." 02/10/2021 - "Drug resistance and relapse after treatment of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) with the chemotherapeutic drugs has impeded the VL elimination programme especially, in the endemic region of Bihar, India. " 01/01/2021 - "No patient with visceral leishmaniasis was found to be infectious by microscopy at 30 days after treatment, although six (8%) were still positive by qPCR. "
5.	Immunomodulation 01/01/2020 - "The present study was planned to evaluate the antileishmanial efficacy of crude ethanolic extract of roots of Chlorophytum borivilianum (CBREE) against murine visceral leishmaniasis through immunomodulation. " 01/01/2018 - "root extract against visceral leishmaniasis in inbred BALB/c mice through immunomodulation." 01/01/2017 - "Immunomodulatory Therapy of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Coinfected Patients." 01/01/2015 - "Th1-biased immunomodulation and therapeutic potential of Artemisia annua in murine visceral leishmaniasis." 10/01/2014 - "One of the immunopathological consequences of active visceral leishmaniasis is suppression of protective T-helper (Th)-1 cells and induction of disease-promoting Th-2 cells, and thus the treatment of VL relies on immunomodulation. "