A randomized trial comparing a pentavalent antimonial drug and recombinant interferon-gamma in the local treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Author(s): Harms G, Chehade AK, Douba M, Roepke M, Mouakeh A, Rosenkaimer F, Bienzle U

Affiliation(s): Landesinstitut fur Tropenmedizin, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany.

Publication date & source: 1991-03, Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg., 85(2):214-6.

Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial

In a randomized prospective trial N-methyl-glucamine antimoniate (Glucantime) and human recombinant interferon-gamma were infiltrated around lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania tropica in Syria. A previous trial had shown that intradermal application of interferon-gamma promoted the healing of similar lesions in the study area. Twenty patients with 38 lesions received 1-3 ml Glucantime and 20 patients with 37 lesions received 25 micrograms of interferon-gamma intradermally once weekly for 5 consecutive weeks. While all lesions treated with Glucantime were free of parasites after the third injection, only 69% of those treated with interferon-gamma were parasitologically cured by week 10. Within 10 weeks, lesions treated with Glucantime healed completely in 29/38, and partially in 9/38, cases, whereas 1/37 and 13/37 lesions treated with interferon-gamma healed completely and partially, respectively. Perilesional application of Glucantime was highly effective and superior to interferon-gamma for treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by L. tropica.