Treatment+&+Response+-+Leishmaniasis

Mortality rate: There are different strains of Leishmaniasis but broadly speaking the mortality rate of this disease is between 75-95% if left untreated.

Surgery: Plastic surgery may be needed to correct the disfigurement caused by sores on the face in the case of cutaneous leishmaniasis.If a person is infected with drug-resistant viral leishmaniasis they may need to have their spleen removed.

Cure rate: Cure rates of leishmaniasis are high when this disease is treated with proper medicine. Patients should get treated before damage to the immune system occurs.

New treatments of leishmaniasis have been met with variable levels of success. In Columbia, miltefosine treatment cured 91% of infections involving //L viannia panamensis,// similar to antimony therapy, while curing only 53% of infections involving //L viannia braziliensis//in Guatemala, well below historic antimony cure rates.

Drugs used: Medicines called antimony-containing compounds are the main drugs used to treat leishmaniasis. These include: Meglumine antimoniate and sodium stibogluconate. Treatments that are effective for one species of leishmania may not work for another.

Determining strain: It is recommended that advice of a doctor be sought to determine which treatment to pursue and which drugs to use. Ideally before treatment, one should establish the species of leishmania through molecular techniques (PCR). There is often only one species present in a particular geographical region, so it is usually unnecessary to speciate every infection.

Toxicity of Drugs: Almost all current treatment options for leishmaniasis are toxic with significant side-effects.