Intralesional Candida Antigen Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Recalcitrant and Multiple Warts in Children.

Background: Intralesional injection of Candida antigen appears to be an effective alternative for the treatment of warts.

Aim: To determine the efficacy and safety of this treatment.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed records of all children who received intralesional injection of Candida antigen at our center from January 2008 to July 2013.

Results: From a total of 220 patients, 156 (70.9%) had a complete response, 37 (16.8%) had a partial response, and 27 (12.2%) had no improvement. An average of 2.73 treatments was needed. Forty-seven of the patients with more than one wart (21.3%) also noted at least partial resolution of untreated warts at distant sites. Twenty-seven of the 47 patients (57.4%) had complete resolution. All treated patients experienced some discomfort at the time of the injection, but no serious side effects were reported.

Discussion: We report our results using this approach in a large group of children.

Conclusion: Intralesional injection of Candida antigen is an effective and safe therapy for children with multiple and recalcitrant cutaneous warts.