Treatment of chronic amebiasis in pediatric patients with a suspension of quinfamide.

Quinfamide, a dichloroacetyl quinolol synthesized and tested at Sterling Winthrop Research Institute, is a potent luminal amebicide with potential utility for a one-day treatment of chronic and subacute amebiasis caused by Entamoeba histolytica. Previous studies demonstrated that quinfamide is a safe and efficacious drug for adult patients when given as a one-day treatment regimen of 300 mg taken in tablet form at a dosage of 100 mg every eight hours. To test the drug in suspension form in pediatric patients, 46 children from newborn to 12 years old, assigned to groups according to age, were administered quinfamide in doses ranging from 50 to 300 mg/day as either single or divided doses. In all age groups quinfamide suspension, given as multiple doses in a single day, was shown to be highly effective in eliminating trophozoites from the stool. Cure rates ranged from 77.8% to 100%.