Abstract
Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a major health problem in endemic areas of Iran. The pentavalent antimony (SbV) based drug Glucantime is the first line of treatment for CL in Iran, but recently SbV-resistant Leishmania tropica isolates derived from unresponsive patients were reported. We show in this study that these resistant parasites are cross-resistant to the other SbV-containing drug Pentostam and at least for one isolate also to amphotericin B. However, these resistant isolates were shown to be sensitive to miltefosine and paromomycin. The latter two drugs could thus be useful alternatives for the treatment of leishmaniasis in Iran even for SbV-resistant isolates.
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Acknowledgements
This work was possible through CIHR operating and group grants to MO who is a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Scholar in Molecular Parasitology and the holder of a Canada Research Chair in antimicrobial resistance. This study was partly funded by a joint grant from the Eastern Mediterranean Region Office of the World Health Organization (Project SGS07/48). Isolation of the Leishmania species was possible through financial support of Medical Sciences/University of Tehran.
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Hadighi, R., Boucher, P., Khamesipour, A. et al. Glucantime-resistant Leishmania tropica isolated from Iranian patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis are sensitive to alternative antileishmania drugs. Parasitol Res 101, 1319–1322 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0638-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0638-0