Effectiveness of doxycycline for the treatment of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in vivo.

There are available data on in vivo studies of monotherapy of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis with some antibacterial drugs (doxycycline) and their comparison with meglumine antimoniate (glucantime). We used golden Syrian hamsters as a laboratory model. Experimental groups were formed, each of which was treated with one of the tested drugs. Infection of animals was carried out with Leishmania major promastigotes. We selected highly virulent strains of L. major culture isolated from human ulcers or rodents. Meglumine antimoniate monotherapy and doxycycline monotherapy are quite effective and do not differ by the 30th day of their use in such indicators as the average degree of local damage and the average number of Leishmania in the lesions. The main differences were recorded in terms of average body weight gain and average clinical recovery in favour of doxycycline. Leishmania in the lesion on the 60th day were completely absent in treatment with doxycycline. The experiment proved the effectiveness of doxycycline monotherapy: Leishmania in the lesions were absolutely absent by the end of the treatment.