Nitrofurfurylidene for the treatment of the chronic form of Chagas' disease

Abstract

Twenty five patients with chronic Chagas' disease were studied; they had positive serology and a high rate of parasitemia. Fifteen patients were treated with nitrofurfurylidene for 120 days (daily dose of 8-10 mg/kg body weight). The remaining ten cases received placebo only. No iatrogenic alterations of the liver, hematopoiesis or kidney were observed, either during or after treatment. Xenodiagnosis of the 15 patients was negative on the 60th day of treatment and remained negative for the following 5 yr observation period. However, the serum diagnosis was not negative even though the 15 patients had lower levels of antibodies after the 12th month of treatment. The authors discuss the disagreement between the xenodiagnosis and serological results and offer an explanation for it.