Ajoene in the topical short-term treatment of tinea cruris and tinea corporis in humans - Randomized comparative study with terbinafine

Ajoene (CAS 92284-99-6), an organic trisulphur originally isolated from gar lic, has an antimycotic activity which has been widely demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. The objective of this work was to compare the safety an d effectiveness of ajoene (0.6 %, gel) with terbinafine (CAS 91161-71-6) (1 %, cream) for the treatment of tinea corporis and tinea cruris. The patien ts selected were 60 soldiers with clinical and mycological diagnosis of eit her dermatophytosis. They were distributed at random in two treatment group s, one treated with ajoene at 0.6 % and the other with terbinafine at 1 %. All patients were evaluated clinically and mycologically 30 and 60 days aft er completion of the treatment, which was considered effective when clinica l signs and symptoms had disappeared and the mycological cultures were nega tive. Thirty days after treatment, the percent healing rate was 77 and 75 f or the groups treated with ajoene and terbinafine, respectively. Sixty days after treatment, the healing rate 73 % and 71 % for the groups treated wit h ajoene and terbinafine, respectively. These results and those obtained in previous studies confirm that ajoene is a new agent for the topic: treatme nt of superficial mycoses, and for the first time show the therapeutic usef ulness of an Inhibitor of phospholipids biosynthesis in eukaryotes.