Intestinal helminth coinfection is associated with mucosal lesions and poor response to therapy in American tegumentary leishmaniasis.

The most severe clinical form of American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) due to Leishmania braziliensis is mucosal leishmaniasis (ML), characterized by destructive lesions in the facial mucosa. We performed a retrospective cohort study of 109 ATL patients from Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, where ATL is caused by L. braziliensis, to evaluate the influence of intestinal parasite coinfections in the clinical course of ATL.

Evaluation of polymerase chain reaction in the routine diagnosis for tegumentary leishmaniasis in a referral centre.

The present study investigated the diagnostic value of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) performed in parallel to conventional methods at an American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) referral centre for diagnosis. Accuracy parameters for PCR were calculated using 130 patients with confirmed ATL (ATL group), 15 patients established with other diseases and 23 patients with a lesion suggestive of ATL, but without parasitological confirmation (NDEF group). PCR showed 92.

Sensitivity of Leishmania braziliensis promastigotes to meglumine antimoniate (glucantime) is higher than that of other Leishmania species and correlates with response to therapy in American tegumentary leishmaniasis.

The first line drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis are antimonial derivatives. Poor clinical response may be credited to factors linked to the host, the drug, or the parasite. We determined the sensitivity of Leishmania sp.

Differential interferon- gamma production characterizes the cytokine responses to Leishmania and Mycobacterium leprae antigens in concomitant mucocutaneous leishmaniasis and lepromatous leprosy.

Background: Tegumentary leishmaniasis and leprosy display similar spectra of disease phenotypes, which are dependent on cell-mediated immunity to specific antigens. Diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis and lepromatous leprosy represent the anergic end of the spectrum, whereas mucocutaneous leishmaniasis and tuberculoid leprosy are associated with marked antigen-specific cellular immune response.

Methods: We characterized and compared the cell-mediated response to Leishmania and Mycobacterium leprae antigens in a patient with an intriguing association of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis with lepromatous leprosy, which are at opposite ends of the immunopathological spectra of these diseases.

An intermittent schedule is better than continuous regimen of antimonial therapy for cutaneous leishmaniasis in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This study reviews a series of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases diagnosed and treated in outpatient units in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, where the intermittent schedule of antimonial therapy was replaced by the continuous regimen. Both schedules were based on daily intramuscular injections of pentavalent antimonial. Forty-nine subjects received the intermittent regimen, consisting of three ten-day series alternated with ten-day rest intervals whereas seventy-one patients received the continuous regimen during 20 consecutive days.