Leashing Leishmaniasis.

German scientists have found a cure for the often fatal disease leishmaniasis. The disease, which is transmitted by blood-sucking sandflies, affects more than 12 million people worldwide, mainly in tropical and subtropical areas, with a growing number of cases in southern Europe. The new treatment--an oral form of a drug called miltefosine--has an efficacy rate of 98% for disease sufferers who take the medicine daily for four weeks. The treatment was reported in the 9 December 1999 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Although the search for a vaccine was begun 30 years ago, until now treatment was limited to intravenous therapy with dangerously toxic compounds to which the disease was becoming increasingly resistant. Scientists are concerned that the spread of AIDS is influencing the spread of leishmaniasis, as some forms of the disease result in symptoms only in people with weakened immune systems. In Spain, 50% of leishmaniasis patients were also diagnosed with AIDS.