Clinical treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in dogs with furazolidone and domperidone.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a zoonosis and a public health problem in countries of subtropical America. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of furazolidone and domperidone treatment of dogs naturally infected with Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis. Infection was confirmed by PCR and parasite culture of tissue collected from skin scrapings of the lesion borders of dogs. Naturally infected animals were divided into control (n=4) and treatment (n=8) groups. The treatment group was administered furazolidone for 21 days interspersed with domperidone for 10 days by oral gavage. Dogs that showed no lesion healing during this period were administered the same treatment cycle for up to 93 days. Among the eight treated animals, seven were clinically cured without recurrence of skin lesions during the 12-month study period. However, during lesion healing, skin scrapings were positive for L. (V.) braziliensis by PCR; no growth of the protozoan in NNN-LIT medium occurred until the end of follow-up. These results suggest that treatment with furazolidone and domperidone is effective for epithelialisation and lesion healing of dogs with clinical CL caused by L. (V.) braziliensis.