Spiramycin therapy for cryptosporidial diarrhoea in immunocompromised patients.

Spiramycin, 3 g daily, was used to treat immunocompromised patients with chronic diarrhoea due to Cryptosporidium. Most patients treated had acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Among 37 patients evaluated, 28 had a favourable response, defined as a reduction in the daily number of bowel movements to less than 50% of baseline and fewer than five. Twelve of these individuals had Cryptosporidium oocysts eradicated from stool. Spiramycin was well tolerated. These data suggest that spiramycin is effective in alleviating cryptosporidial diarrhoea in some immunocompromised patients and may lead to eradication of cryptosporidial oocysts.