Nutritional status in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis and a study of the effects of zinc supplementation together with antimony treatment.

Background: The role of micronutrient status for the incidence and clinical course of cutaneous leishmaniasis is not much studied. Still zinc supplementation in leishmaniasis has shown some effect on the clinical recovery, but the evidence in humans is limited.

Objective: To compare biochemical nutritional status in cutaneous leishmaniasis patients with that in controls and to study the effects of zinc supplementation for 60 days.