Efficacy and Toxicity of Fexinidazole and Nifurtimox Plus Eflornithine in the Treatment of African Trypanosomiasis: A Systematic Review

Jessica Hidalgo; Juan Fernando Ortiz; Stephanie P Fabara; Ahmed Eissa-Garcés; Dinesh Reddy; Kristina D Collins; Raghavendra Tirupathi

doi:10.7759/cureus.16881

Efficacy and Toxicity of Fexinidazole and Nifurtimox Plus Eflornithine in the Treatment of African Trypanosomiasis: A Systematic Review

Cureus. 2021 Aug 4;13(8):e16881. doi: 10.7759/cureus.16881. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Authors

Jessica Hidalgo¹, Juan Fernando Ortiz², Stephanie P Fabara³, Ahmed Eissa-Garcés⁴, Dinesh Reddy⁵, Kristina D Collins⁶, Raghavendra Tirupathi⁷

Affiliations

¹ Internal Medicine, San Francisco de Quito University, Quito, ECU.
² Neurology, Larkin Community Hospital, Miami, USA.
³ Internal Medicine, Santiago de Guayaquil Catholic University, Guayaquil, ECU.
⁴ Neurology, San Francisco de Quito University, Quito, ECU.
⁵ Neurology, Mysore Medical College, Mysore, IND.
⁶ Internal Medicine, University of the West Indies, Kingston, JAM.
⁷ Internal Medicine, Keystone Health, Chambersburg, USA.

Abstract

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), or sleeping sickness disease, is an infection caused mainly by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense-human African trypanosomiasis (g-HAT) and is transmitted by tsetse flies. The disease goes through two stages: hemolymphatic and meningo-encephalic phases. The treatment for the second stage has changed from melarsoprol or eflornithine to nifurtimox-eflornithine combination therapy (NECT) and fexinidazole. We aimed to systematically review the literature on the efficacy and toxicity of fexinidazole and NECT. We used PubMed advanced strategy and Google Scholar databases, including clinical trials and observational studies on humans in the last 20 years in the English literature. Applying the inclusion/exclusion criteria, we reviewed eight studies. We used Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) and Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) protocol. For assessing bias, we used the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for risk assessment of the clinical trials and the Robins-I tool for the observational studies. Overall, the clinical trials showed that NECT was non-inferior to eflornithine. The proportion of patients discharged alive is higher in patients treated with NECT vs. patients treated with eflornithine. Gastrointestinal complaints are a common side effect of NECT therapy, while fearful but relatively rare convulsions can also occur. The main limitation among the studies of NECT was the lack of blinding because most of them were open-label. Fexinidazole, the new oral medication showed is effective and safe for the treatment of g-HAT infection. Because of their convenience, fexinidazole is preferred over NECT therapy, oral vs. IV infusion in the first and second stages of the disease. Compared to older therapies, fexinidazole and NECT are more effective and safer than eflornithine and melarsoprol monotherapy.

Keywords: eflornithine; fexinidazole; melarsoprol; nifurtimox; sleeping sickness; trypanosoma brucei.

Publication types

Review