SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF CUTANEOUS LEISHMANIASIS WITH ALLOPURINOL AFTER FAILURE OF TREATMENT WITH KETOCONAZOLE

Treatment of persistent leishmaniasis with oral agents has received in creasing attention, although the optimal agent for use in all settings has not been determined. This report describes a patient with persist ent cutaneous infection due to Leishmania mexicana mexicana who appare ntly responded to therapy with allopurinol after treatment with a cour se of ketoconazole failed. In vitro testing of pre- and posttreatment isolates from the wound did not demonstrate the development of resista nce to ketoconazole. To our knowledge, this is the first report that i ndependently confirms the recently reported efficacy of allopurinol fo r treatment of leishmaniasis.