Oral zinc sulphate in the treatment of acute cutaneous leishmaniasis.

A clinical trial to evaluate the efficiency of oral zinc sulphate in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis was conducted. One-hundred and four patients with parasitologically proven cutaneous leishmaniasis were included in the trial. Patients were assigned randomly to receive 2.5, 5 or 10 mg/kg of zinc sulphate orally, and a control group of patients did not receive any treatment. All patients were followed up for 45 days. At the end of the follow-up period, lesions were assessed and parasitological proof of cure or otherwise was sought. Results showed that the cure rate for the 2.5 mg/kg group was 83.9%, for the 5 mg/kg treatment group it was 93.1% and for the 10 mg/kg treatment group it was 96.9%. No lesions in the control group showed any sign of healing during the follow-up period. Therefore, oral zinc sulphate can be recommended as a very safe therapy for cutaneous leishmaniasis.