Topical Treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
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Topical Treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Joseph EI-On, Ph.D., Rita Livshin, M.D., Zvi Even-Paz, M.D. , David Hamburger, Ph.D., and Louis Weinrauch, M. D . Department of Microbio logy and Immunology, Facult y of Hea lth Sciences, Dcn G urion University of the N cgev UE-O), Deer Sheva; Departmcnt of Dcrmatology, Hadassah Universi ty H ospital, Hebrcw University Had assa h Mcdical School (R L, ZE-P, LW), j erusalem; Teva Pharm aceutica l In dustries Ltd. (01-1 ), j erusa lem, Israel Six ty- seven patients, 19 fem :ll es and 48 m ales, 4-66 years develo pments did not affect the clinical he:ding process o ld , sufferin g fro m lesions o f cutaneous leishmaniasis which was generall y completed in a period of 10-30 d ays were treated to pica ll y with an o intme nt comprising 15% after termination of trea tment. In addition, 94% of the paro m o mycin sulfate and 12% m eth ylbenzethonium chl o treated lesio n s healed with little o r no scarring. N o adverse ride in white soft pa raffin (P-ointment, U .K . patent clinica l or laboratory side effe cts w ere observed except fo r GBll7237A). After 10 d ays of treatment, twice daily, the a burning sensation at the site of trea tment. Parasites iso_ lesio ns in 72% of the treated pati ents were free of parasites, lated fro m patients w ho failed to respond to topical treat_ 15% becam e free with in an additional 20 d ays, witho ut m ent were found to be susceptible to PR-MBC I in both further trea tment, and 13% failed to respond. Pig m entation in vitro infected m acrophages and in vivo in experimenta lly develo ped in 18% of the trea ted lesio n s and inA ammatio n infected BALE/c mice. J In vest Dennato/ 87:284-288, 1986 of varying degree was associated with t he treatm ent. T hese eishmania sis is a disorder produced by Aa gelbted pro prove to be a major antileishmani al th erapeutic advance against tozoa of the genus L eis/lll1 allia. Depending on the ca us both cutaneO Ll S and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis [1 0, 111. ative species, th e disease Ill ay m anifest itse lf as a sys Although C L is purely a skin disease, very fe w studies have tellli c, a destructive mucocutaneous, or a purely been made to devel op a simple topical application for its treat cutaneous chronic in fection. AII 3 forms are translilitted ment. Local treatment with imidazole derivatives was found to Lby species of sa ndAi es belong in g to the genus Phlevolo/III.IS (Old be in effective in curing CL ca used by either L. lIIajor or L. lIIexicana Worl d) or the genus LlIlz o/llia (New World). a/lla ZO Il ClIsis in both ex perimental anim.als and humans 11 21. H ow_ L eishlllania //"Iajor, one of the eti ologic agents of cutaneous lei sh ever, a chJ orpro l11a zin e-containing ointment was recentl y u sed mani as is (Cl) in the O ld World , produces in humans a se lf successfull y in hea lin g diffuse CL due to L. (/clhiop ica in hUlllan hea ling les ion fo ll owed by long-las ting immunity to reinfecti on 1 13J. 1"1] . The introducti on of the paras ite into the skin is fo ll owed by In a previous study, an ointment containing paromomycin and the development of a pap ul ar lesion w hi ch may enlarge and ul methylbenzeth onium chlo rid e was fou nd to be hi ghly effective ce rate and persist for up to 18 months. Spontaneous resolution in curing CL in experimental animals [14]. All mice infected w ith of a large lesion often lea ves an un sightl y sca r. Both sexes and L. lIIajor LRC-LJ37 were cured of the cutaneous disease after local all ages are susceptible. treatment applied twice dail y for 6-10 days. The paras ites were C utaneous leishmani as is is of clinica l importance beca use of its tota ll y eliminated from th e lesions, which rapidly healed. The chroni city and its potential for local des tructi on and disfigure present study describes the effi cacy of similar topica l treatlllent ment. N o sa ti sfactory systemicall y ad ministered drug against th e in humans against CL ca used by L. I/Iajor. disease has yet been developed; reli ance is on a few drugs w hi ch are sometimes in effecti ve and may be associated with side effec ts. The need for effi cacious, more easil y administered, and less toxic MATERIALS AND METHODS antiicishmania l agents is required. Rifampicin was the first orall y Patients, Treatment, and Evaluation of Responses Sixty_ effective antileishmanial agent introduced to clini ca l medi cin e 12-4]. seven patients of both sexes and different ages with ea rl y and Other oral medica ti on, sLi ch as metronidazole 15-7] and co-tri advanced infecti on were trea ted (Table I). The number of lesions moxazole [8,91 showed controversial effi cacy against the disease. per patient was '/-39. In most cases only one, th e largest and The development of the new antifungal agent ketoconazole may most active les ion , was trea ted while either one or more other untreated lesions on the sa me patient se rved as control. The le siollS were trea ted with an ointment containing 15% paromo m ycin sulphate (PR) and 12% mcthylbenzethonium chl oride (MBCI) in white soft paraffi n (P-ointmcnt), twice daily fOr a M anuscript received October 25, 1985; ~cceptcd for publi ca ti o n March peri od o f 1° day s. All ointment preparations were manufactured 3, 1986. and supplied by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. , Jerusalem. RcpriIH requcsts to: j oseph E I-On, Ph.D. , DcpartmcntofMicro bi o logy In se veral cases th e treatment was extended for another 10 da and Immunology, Fa culty or Hea lth Sciences, Ben G urion Uni vcrsit y of and in one patient th e trea tment was given for a period of 2 the N egev, l3 ec r -S h cv~, 84 105 Israel. Abbreviatio ns: days. Treated lesions were generally left un covered, but in a few C L: cutancous Ici shman.ia sis cases the lesions were covered by adhes ive tape (Dermiciear) to LRC: Leis/lIl/fIIl ia I{cfcrcncc Ccnter prevent cl othing or dirt contamin ation. Between treatments the M 13 I: Ill cthylbcnzethonium chl orid e lesions were w iped clean. PR: paromomycin sul phate The res ults obtained were defined as follows: (1) rapidl y ef- 0022-202X/86/S03.50 Copyright © 1986 by T he Society for In vesti gative Dermatology, In c. 284 VOL. 87. NO.2 AUGUST 1986 TOPIC AL T ltEATMENT OF CUTANEOUS LE ISHMANIAS IS 285 Table I. Res ults of Topical T rea tment w ith P-Ointment on C utaneous Leish n1Jniasis Description of Patients Da ys from Appearance of Lesion ro O nset of Age (years) Treatment No. of Lesions per Patient Effect of Treatment 5ex N o. Percent Average ± 5D Ran ge Average ± 5D Ran ge Average ± 5D Range Rapidly effective M 34 50.7 24.34 ± 8.6 19- 55 86.09 ± 43.9 30-240 6.H7 ± 5.6 1- 19 F 14 20.8 23.23 ± 14.0 19-66 120.38 ± 77.3 30- 270 5.7 1 ± 3.5 1- 12 Less effective M 6 8.9 29.83 ± 12.2 19-4·<) 78.33 ± 58.4 60-180 10. 16 ± 9.8 3- 39 F 4 5.9 29.75 ± 20.2 19-60 100.00 ± 34.6 60-120 8.50 ± 8. 1 1-20 Ineffecti ve M 8 11. 9 21.1 5 ± 10.3 2- 36 96.25 ± 38.9 60- 180 8.25 ± 8.9 1- 29 F I 1.5 25.00 ± 0.0 25 250.00 ± 0.0 250 2.00 ± 0.0 2 fective: no parasites were detected in the treated les ion at th e cnd RESULTS of 10 days of treatment; (2) less rapidl y effective: para si tes werc still present in the treated lesion at the cnd ofl 0 days oftrea tl11 cnt, T he effcct of topica l treatment w ith P-ointmcnt as determined but disa ppeared w ithin the nex t 20 days; (3) in effe cti ve: paras ites by smcar and cul tu re techniques in 67 pati ents is summarized in still present in the lesions at least 1 month after the end of tre:J[ Table I. After 10 da ys of treatment, rapid clearing was obtained in 48 (7 1.6%) patients. Less rapid clearing was demonstrated in ment. 10 (14.9%) and no effe ct was obscrved in 9 (13.4%) of the treated Diagnosis and Laboratory Examinations In all cases the di patients. In the rapidl y clearing group, parasites were totall y elim agnosis was based on positive smea r and/ or cultures . La rge les ions in ated from the lesions by the end of the treatment and the les ions were examined at several sites. Fo r smear and culture preparations were clinicall y hea led within an add itional 10-30 days.