Table 1.

Drugs used for the treatment of leishmaniasis.

Serial number	Name of the drug	Mode of action	Mode of administration	Adverse effects	References
1	Pentavalent antimonials	Inhibition of glycolysis and β-oxidation of fatty acids of parasite	Intralesional for CL Parenteral	Abdominal pain, erythema, nausea, toxicity (hepatic, pancreas, renal, muscular, and skeletal cardiothrombocytopenia or leukopenia)	[2, 60, 61]
2	Amphotericin B	Binding to parasite's membrane sterols and changing its permeability selective to K+ and Mg2+	Liposomal formulations Deoxycholate formulations	Fever, nausea, hypokalemia, anorexia, leukopenia, kidney failure, and heart problems	[2, 59–61]
3	Pentamidine	Interferes with DNA synthesis and modifies the morphology of kinetoplast	Parenteral Intramuscular administration	Pain, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, myalgia, hypertension, headache, hypoglycemia, and transient hyperglycemia	[1, 2, 60, 61]
4	Miltefosine	Associated with phospholipid biosynthesis and alkyl-lipid metabolism in Leishmania	Oral for VL	Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and raised creatinine	[1, 2, 59, 60]
5	Paromomycin	Inhibition of protein biosynthesis in sensitive organism	Topical for CL Parenteral for VL	Erythema, pain, oedema, and ototoxicity (damage to internal ear)	[1, 2, 60]