[Leish-l] Warning: Drugs for human leishmaniasis used to treat dogs

Thu Dec 5 16:53:14 -03 2019

Dear colleagues,

In Brazil, the human use of miltefosine is not approved by the Ministry of
Health due to inconsistent efficacy in local VL human cases. Apparently
because it is not used in humans, miltefosine (Milteforan) was approved in
2016 for use against canine VL. Here, Milteforan is to be given in
association with the leishmaniostatic alopurinol, and treatment repeated
every 6 months for life because of lack of sterile cure.

Milteforan is very expensive in Brazil (~USD 300/ treatment), so it is
conceivable that many owners interrupt the lifelong treatment.  There is a
lot of merchandising pressure from both the industry and vet  clinics that
make a lot of money with the drug and periodical diagnostics, also very
expensive.

I would not be surprised if miltefosine-resistant parasite strains are
already circulating in the country. That by itself should hamper
miltefosine approval against human CL, as recently considered by the
Ministry of Health based on a recent clinical trial, considering that many
dogs may be co-infected with VL and CL leishmanial species.

With best regards,
Bartira Rossi-Bergmann

On Thu, 5 Dec 2019 at 11:54, Rolando Oddone <roloddone at googlemail.com>
wrote:

> Yes, Dr Kwang-Poo Chang. The position of health authorities and PAHO
> officials (at least in Paraguay) is to restrict the use of these drugs only
> for human cases. The reason is obvious. As the Leishmania are not totally
> killed by these drugs during treatment, they are creating resistance
> against these same drugs. Similar situation ocurred in India during the
> 1990's, with indiscriminate use of antimonials in humans. In some regions
> of India, nearly 50% of VL cases (caused by L. donovani) were found
> resistant to SbV, therefore WHO speeded up the use of Miltefosine as
> alternative drug. But in our case, Miltefosine is not as useful as in
> India. It can cure VL cases (in Paraguay caused by L. infantum) but they
> easily relapse.
>
> The conclusions of the last WorldLeish in Spain were clear: there are no
> new drugs for leishmaniasis. If we are creating resistance of Leishmania
> against SbV, we will have very few options for all human cases. But if dogs
> do not use antimonials, they can be treated by other drugs, as far as I
> understand.
>
>
> Rolando Oddone
>
>
> El mar., 5 de nov. de 2019 a la(s) 17:13, Kwang-Poo Chang (
> kwangpoo.chang at rosalindfranklin.edu) escribió:
>
> > Dear Rolando,
> >
> > Both drugs you mentioned have been used by veterinarians elsewhere for
> > treating canine leishmaniasis, although neither has been shown to cure
> the
> > disease. According to my colleagues in Naples, Italy, the diseased dogs
> > responded positively to the treatment when used at high dosage initially,
> > as indicated by a reduction of LD loads and alleviation of clinical
> > symptoms, but ~50% of them died of flare-ups eventually. Your concern
> seems
> > to be a regulatory issue of restricting the use of these drugs only for
> > human cases in Paraguy ?
> >
> > Laura Manna is a DVM in Naples who has been trying our
> > photodynamically inactivated Leishmaina as non-viable whole-cell vaccines
> > for immunotherapy of canine leishmaniasis after initial chemotherapy with
> > evidence of some effectiveness. Let me know, should you or your
> colleagues
> > are interested in this ?
> >
> > KP
> >
> > Kwang Poo Chang, PhD
> > Professor of Microbiology/Immunology
> > Chicago Medical School/RFUMS
> > N Chicago, IL 60064, USA
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 1, 2019 at 4:40 PM Rolando Oddone <roloddone at googlemail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> In Paraguay we have growing proliferation of dogs with leishmaniasis (L.
> >> infantum) since the 1990s.
> >> But dog owners with leishmaniasis are increasingly reluctant to
> sacrifice
> >> their animals. In recent years Glucantime and Milteforan are entering
> the
> >> country smuggled (apparently they come from France and Spain), for
> "free"
> >> use in dogs. These medications are currently being used indiscriminately
> >> by
> >> veterinarians who, for profit, take advantage of the need that people
> have
> >> to want to preserve the lives of their pets.
> >> Under this scenario, hundreds of dogs have already been treated with
> these
> >> drugs, perhaps a thousand in a few years, and the magnitude of the
> problem
> >> will increase.
> >> However, the authorities of the Ministry of Health do not take any
> >> measures, despite the existence of recommendations that these drugs are
> >> exclusively for human use.
> >> The purpose of this sharing is, dear colleagues, that you express your
> >> position regarding this situation, at least in this way, and what would
> be
> >> the impact this could have at the international level. Your joint voice
> >> will be better heard than the simple complaint I may make.
> >>
> >>
> >> Rolando Oddone
> >> IICS-UNA
> >> Paraguay
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-- 
*Bartira Rossi Bergmann*
Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
tel: +55 (21) 2260-6963