| Summary: | The spectrum of side-effects of sodium stibogluconate is well described, however, little is known regarding the acute erythroid toxicity caused by this drug. We hereby present a case with this unusual complication of antimonial therapy. A 6-year-old male with leishmaniasis was started on parenteral sodium stibogluconate. During the course of treatment, his hemoglobin (Hb) dropped from 7.2 g/dl to 3.5 g/dl. Bone-marrow aspirate showed karyorrhexis in many erythroid precursors with several <i>Leishmania donovanii</i> bodies. Sodium stibogluconate was stopped and amphotericin-B was started. Four days after the cessation of the antimonials, the patient′s Hb improved to 5 gm/dl with a corrected reticulocyte count of 10% indicating bone-marrow erythroid regeneration. The exact mechanism of this acute erythroid toxicity of sodium stibogluconate remains unexplored.
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