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Nifurtimox is a 5-nitrofuran used to treat diseases caused by trypanosomes including Chagas disease and sleeping sickness. It is given by mouth and not by injection. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most important medications needed in a basic health system. ==Medical uses== Being a nitroaromatic compound, nifurtimox undergoes reduction and eventually creates oxygen radicals such as superoxide. These radicals are toxic to ''T. cruzi''. Mammalian cells are protected by presence of catalase, glutathione, peroxidases, and superoxide dismutase. Nifurtimox has been used to treat Chagas disease, when it is given for 30 to 60 days, but gastrointestinal and neurological side effects have meant that benznidazole is now preferred for that indication. Nifurtimox has also been used to treat African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), and is active in the second stage of the disease (central nervous system involvement). When nifurtimox is given on its own, about half of all patients will relapse, but the combination of melarsoprol with nifurtimox appears to be efficacious. Trials are awaited comparing melarsoprol/nifurtimox against melarsoprol alone for African sleeping sickness. Combination therapy with eflornithine and nifurtimox is safer and easier than treatment with eflornithine alone, and appears to be equally or more effective. It has been recommended as first-line treatment for second-stage African trypanosomiasis. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「nifurtimox」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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