Use of Metronidazole in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

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Abstract
To the Editor.— We were interested in the report of Pedersen and Sawicki on the apparently successful use of metronidazole in cutaneous leishmaniasis (Arch Dermatol 111:1343, 1975). As the lesion in their patient had already been present for seven months before treatment was started, spontaneous resolution may have occurred. In a previous report on the use of metronidazole in cutaneous leishmaniasis,1 the patient's lesion had been present for four months before therapy commenced, and had shrunk to half its size by the tenth day of treatment. In the only reported series of patients with leishmaniasis treated with metronidazole, 21 of 30 patients with South American leishmaniasis were cured.2 Following these reports, we undertook to assess the value of metronidazole in an area of high endemicity for cutaneous leishmaniasis in southern Iran. The study formed part of a double-blind trial involving other anti-leishmanial regimens. All cases were confirmed cytologically

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