To the Editor.—
The accepted systemic treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis is the parenteral administration of an organic antimonial drug. Treatment results are not entirely satisfactory, and alterations of hepatic and renal function, together with transient ECG changes,1 may occur with these compounds.Because antimonial drugs were temporarily unavailable and after reports of the use of rifampin in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis,2,3 rifampin was used to treat 40 patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis. The average age of the lesions was nine weeks, and, while three patients had acute "wet" lesions, the remaining 37 patients had "dry" lesions. Children were given 20 mg/kg body weight per day of rifampin; adults were given 1,200 mg/day of rifampin. Two weeks' treatment sufficed in the inflammatory wet lesions only, but the rest of the lesions required up to 11 weeks of therapy. Three patients were unavailable for follow-up examination, and another patient was