by Chhajed R, Dahal P, Singh-Phulgenda S, Brack M, Naylor C, Sundar S, Alves F, Stepniewska K, Guerin PJ. Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia 2023. 10.1016/j.lansea.2023.100317
Summary: The follow-up period in trials of treatments for visceral leishmaniasis is typically six months, within which a proportion of initially cured patients relapse. Recent studies have reported a considerable proportion of relapses after six months, and so the authors of this manuscript conducted a meta-analysis to quantify the proportion of relapses observed at and beyond 6-months using the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO) systematic review database. The estimated relapse proportion ranged from 0.5% to 4.5% in the Indian sub-continent and from 3.8% to 13.0% in East Africa after treatment with the currently recommended drugs. Over one-quarter of relapses would be missed with 6-months follow-up, suggesting a longer follow-up period may be warranted.
