Phenothiazines: potential alternatives for the management of antibiotic resistant infections of tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries

Trop Med Int Health. 2001 Dec;6(12):1016-22. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.2001.00804.x.

Abstract

The in vitro and in vivo activity of phenothiazines against antibiotic susceptible and antibiotic resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis and malaria-causing Plasmodia is reviewed. Given the facts that pulmonary tuberculosis and malaria are the major causes of death in developing countries, that both of these infections continue to escalate in their resistance to antibiotics, that the cost for the management of these infections is beyond that afforded by most developing nations, and lastly, that new and effective agents are not forthcoming from the pharmaceutical industry, the scientific rationale for the potential use of select phenothiazines for the management of these infections is presented.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antimalarials / pharmacology
  • Antimalarials / therapeutic use
  • Antitubercular Agents / pharmacology
  • Antitubercular Agents / therapeutic use
  • Developing Countries*
  • Drug Resistance*
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial
  • Humans
  • Malaria / drug therapy*
  • Malaria / parasitology
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / drug effects
  • Phenothiazines / therapeutic use*
  • Plasmodium / classification
  • Plasmodium / drug effects
  • Thioridazine / therapeutic use*
  • Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / drug therapy*
  • Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / microbiology

Substances

  • Antimalarials
  • Antitubercular Agents
  • Phenothiazines
  • Thioridazine