Toward an approach for cutaneous leishmania treatment

Introduction: Most drugs being used for cutaneous leishmania treatment are still non well effective, extremely expensive, risky with side effects, more invasive and relapses still occur. The purpose of the study is to achieve more understanding of cutaneous leishmania disease and through that to try an other form of treating substance that can provide better results with less damages to the tissues.Methods: Seven patients infected with cutaneous leishmania were chosen for DAB-1 application. Clinical as well as microscopic study and follow-up with documenting photos for the lesions, indicating the starting point for the cases before treatment initiation, and the disease development after DAB-1 application was accomplished.Results: Before treatment, the lesions size was between 1.8-7 cm. Cases were inflamed and ulcerated. After 8 days of treatment, inflammation shrank. After 16 days, the lesions and the ulcers decreased into almost half their size. 24 days post treatment, inflammation began disappearing and epithelial islands continued to grow inside the ulcers filling a considerable part of them. By the end of day 32, ulcers were covered with a continuous layer of epithelium, and heal is achieved after two to three months of treatment.Conclusion: The study proved that DAB-1 is capable of healing leishmania in 6-8 weeks after application and is compared favorably to the other traditionally used drugs. DAB-1 could be a breakthrough in cutaneous leishmania treatment.