RESUMO
From September to November 1994. 21 patients with active mucosal leishmaniasis were treated with aminosidine sulphate 16 mg/kg/day by intramuscular injection for 20 days. They were principally adult male agricultural workers. Thirteen patients had not received specific treatment and eight had failed to respond to Glucantime therapy. Diagnosis was based on clinical and epidemiological observations, a search for the parasite, leishmanin skin sensitivity and indirect fluorescent antibody serological tests. Sixty seven percent of patients had leishmania parasites isolated from inoculated hamsters or visualized in imprints or histopathological sections. The mean follow-up period was 12.6 months. All patients completed treatment. Side effects were pain at the injection site (86 per cent); mild proteinuria (24 per cent), elevated serum creatinine (.5 per cent) and subclinical bearing loss in one of two patients who did audiometric tests. Clinical cure was achieved in 48 per cent and the accumulated relapse rate was 29 per cent(4/14).