Evaluation of a Novel Herbal Immunomodulator Drug (IMOD) in Treatment of Experimental Canine Visceral leishmaniasis

Toxicity and drug resistance against pentavalent antimonials, medications of choice in treatment of leishmaniasis for more than 5 decades, have become important subjects globally. This study was a randomized, open labeled trial that was designed to determine efficacy and safety of IMOD as a novel herbal immunomodulator drug for treatment of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL). Twenty healthy mongrel dogs were infected with Iranian strain of L. Infantum amastigotes and randomly divided to 5 groups with four animals for each included on: I: negative control (non-infected) II: Glucantime (R) III: Glucantime (R) plus IMOD (immune-chemotherapy) IV: IMOD and V: positive control (non-treated). Physical examination, hematological, biochemical, serological, parasitological, pathological and imaging evaluations were performed pre-/post-interventions every month for 3 months. Comparing with control groups (I&V), immune-chemotherapy group (Glucantime (R) plus IMOD) showed significantly higher efficacy in resolving the clinical signs and hematobiochemistry factors. Based on our results, using IMOD in combination with meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime (R)) has significantly improved CVL than the latter drug alone. So, it seems this new herbal medicine is useful as adjuvant therapy for canine visceral leishmaniasis.