Tag: Leishmaniasis

With an estimated 0.7 to 1 million new cases annually, leishmaniasis is a significant global health issue. So, what does Impavido treat? This oral medication is a primary weapon against specific parasitic infections caused by the *Leishmania* parasite and is also used for other rare but deadly infections.

With increasing resistance to standard leishmaniasis treatments, scientists are exploring alternative therapies, including the potent antimalarial artemisinin. But what is an artemisinin for leishmaniasis, and how is it being adapted for this debilitating disease?

Leishmaniasis is classified as a neglected tropical disease by the World Health Organization and is the second-leading parasitic killer globally, after malaria. The strategy of drug repurposing—the process of finding new uses for existing drugs—is providing a critical, cost-effective pathway to identify novel treatments for this parasitic infection.

In a study of patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis, ten individuals achieved complete clinical regression of lesions with oral doxycycline therapy. This highlights doxycycline's potential as an alternative medication, but the question remains: does doxycycline treat leishmaniasis effectively for all forms and in all regions?

First developed as an anticancer agent, miltefosine is now the first and only orally available medication approved by the U.S. FDA to treat various forms of leishmaniasis.

With an estimated 1.6 million new cases occurring annually, leishmaniasis primarily affects impoverished communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America [1.6.3]. The search for safer, more effective treatments has led scientists to ask: **can ivermectin treat leishmaniasis?**