EFFICACY OF A SHORT-COURSE (10 DAYS) OF HIGH-DOSE MEGLUMINE ANTIMONATE WITH OR WITHOUT INTERFERON-GAMMA IN TREATING CUTANEOUS LEISHMANIASIS IN GUATEMALA

Sixty-six Guatemalan men with parasitologically confirmed cutaneous leishmaniasis, due most commonly to Leishmania braziliensis, were randomly assigned to receive one of three treatment regimens: meglumine antimonate (meglumine) for 20 days; meglumine for 10 days; and meglumine for 10 days plus alternate-day injections of interferon-gamma. In each group, meglumine was given intravenously as 20 mg of antimony/(kg of body weight.d). All treatment regimens were associated with similar response rates: the lesions of 19 (90%) of 21 patients who received meglumine for 20 days, 18 (90%) of 20 patients who received meglumine for 10 days, and all 22 patients who received meglumine plus interferon-gamma were completely reepithelialized by 13 weeks. In addition, for patients receiving all treatment regimens, test-of-cure cultures for Leishmania were negative and reactivation of lesions did not occur during 12 months of followup. The high efficacy of our 10-day course of meglumine indicates that the currently recommended duration of 20 days may be unnecessary for infections caused by L. braziliensis and suggests that a 10-day course of high-dose antimony should be tested as therapy for cutaneous leishmaniasis in other geographic areas.