Nutritional supplements for patients being treated for active visceral leishmaniasis

Area of Science:

• Tropical medicine
• Parasitology
• Nutritional science

Background:

• Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a fatal parasitic disease if untreated.
• VL exacerbates malnutrition, and poor nutrition worsens VL prognosis.
• The impact of nutritional supplementation during VL treatment remains unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of oral nutritional supplements in patients undergoing anti-leishmanial drug therapy for VL.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature search across multiple databases (Cochrane, MEDLINE, Embase, LILACS) and trial registers up to September 2017.
• Inclusion of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-RCTs, and non-randomized controlled trials (NRCTs) comparing oral nutritional supplements to control groups.
• Planned independent screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment by two reviewers following Cochrane standards.

Main Results:

• No eligible completed or ongoing studies were identified for inclusion in this review.
• The absence of studies means no conclusions can be drawn regarding the effects of nutritional supplements on VL cure, treatment completion, or patient recovery.

Conclusions:

• There is a critical lack of research on the effects of oral nutritional supplements in patients treated for visceral leishmaniasis.
• Further high-quality experimental studies, such as cluster-RCTs, are required to investigate the potential benefits of nutritional interventions in VL management.