Abstract
BackgroundThe role of micronutrient status for the incidence and clinical course of cutaneous leishmaniasis is not much studied. Still zinc supplementation in leishmaniasis has shown some effect on the clinical recovery, but the evidence in humans is limited.ObjectiveTo compare biochemical nutritional status in cutaneous leishmaniasis patients with that in controls and to study the effects of zinc supplementation for 60 days.DesignTwenty-nine patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis were treated with antimony for 20 days. Fourteen of them got 45 mg zinc daily and 15 of them got placebo. Biomarkers of nutritional and inflammatory status and changes in size and characteristics of skin lesions were measured.ResultsThe level of transferrin receptor was higher in patients than in controls but otherwise no differences in nutritional status were found between patients and controls. No significant effects of zinc supplementation on the clinical recovery were observed as assessed by lesion area reduction and characteristics or on biochemical parameters.ConclusionsIt is concluded that nutritional status was essentially unaffected in cutaneous leishmaniasis and that oral zinc supplementation administered together with intramuscular injection of antimony had no additional clinical benefit.
Highlights
The role of micronutrient status for the incidence and clinical course of cutaneous leishmaniasis is not much studied
The patients were selected on the basis of the following criteria: age 15Á50 years, diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis by any of the two laboratory tests described below, and no history of previous leishmaniasis episodes
The plasma concentrations of nutrient-related compounds (Table 1) showed in both patient groups increased values of transferrin receptor at T0 compared with the corresponding controls (p00.002 and 0.033, respectively)
Summary
The role of micronutrient status for the incidence and clinical course of cutaneous leishmaniasis is not much studied. Still zinc supplementation in leishmaniasis has shown some effect on the clinical recovery, but the evidence in humans is limited. Objective: To compare biochemical nutritional status in cutaneous leishmaniasis patients with that in controls and to study the effects of zinc supplementation for 60 days. Design: Twenty-nine patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis were treated with antimony for 20 days. No significant effects of zinc supplementation on the clinical recovery were observed as assessed by lesion area reduction and characteristics or on biochemical parameters. Conclusions: It is concluded that nutritional status was essentially unaffected in cutaneous leishmaniasis and that oral zinc supplementation administered together with intramuscular injection of antimony had no additional clinical benefit
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