Allopurinol in the Treatment of American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Pentavalent antimony, the generally accepted treatment for leishmaniasis, is given parenterally, and it is expensive and not readily available In developing countries. An inexpensive, orally administered compound would be a substantial advance in treatment. Previous studies in vitro have shown synergism between allopurinol and pentavalent antimony in tissue-culture systems. We designed this clinical study to determine whether synergism could be demonstrated In patients.