Main side effects are gastrointestinal disturbance in the first or second day of treatment (a course of treatment is 28 days) which does not affect the efficacy. Because it is available as an oral formulation, the expense and inconvenience of hospitalization is avoided, and outpatient distribution of the drug becomes an option, making miltefosine a drug of choice. However, there are some important disadvantages: 1) there is evidence of reduced efficacy after a decade of use 2) it is teratogenic and cannot be used in women of child-bearing age without anticonception during and for 4 months after treatment.Incomplete treatment has been cited as a major reason of death from visceral leishmaniasis.The nonprofit Institute for OneWorld Health has adopted the broad spectrum antibiotic paromomycin for use in treating VL; its antileishmanial properties were first identified in the 1980s. A treatment with paromomycin costs about US$15. The drug had originally been identified in the 1960s. The Indian government approved paromomycin for sale and use in August 2006. Prognosis
Protective immunity
Immunity to Leishmania is determined by the interplay of white blood cells, cytokines, immune complexes, and genetic and environmental factors. Protective immunity develops either after successful treatment of VL (cured) or after asymptomatic infections that resolve without development of VL (asymptomatic). Both types of immunity are characterized by cell-mediated immunity (CMI), including skin test positivity, proliferation, and interleukin 2 (IL-2), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), and interleukin 12 (IL-12) secretion by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in response to Leishmania antigens.
Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia (also known as: "Epithelioid hemangioma," "Histiocytoid hemangioma," "Inflammatory angiomatous nodule," "Intravenous atypical vascular proliferation," "Papular angioplasia," "Inflammatory arteriovenous hemangioma," and "Pseudopyogenic granuloma") usually presents with pink to red-brown, dome-shaped, dermal papules or nodules of the head or neck, especially about the ears and on the scalp.It, or a similar lesion, has been suggested as a feature of IgG4-related skin disease, which is the name used for skin manifestations of IgG4-related disease. See also
List of cutaneous conditions

References


== External links ==