Dynamics of parasite clearance in cutaneous leishmaniasis patients treated with miltefosine

Parasite loads were quantified in repeated skin biopsies from lesions of 2 patients with old-world cutaneous leishmaniasis (cl) caused by leishmania major and l. infantum during and after treatment with miltefosine. miltefosine induced a rapid therapeutic effect on both infections with an initial decline of parasites of ~1 log/week for the l. major infection. these observations illustrate the usability of quantifying parasite loads in skin lesions as a pharmacodynamic measure and quantitative descriptor of drug effect for cl supporting clinical assessment. © 2011 dorlo et al. this is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license,which permits unrestricted use,distribution,and reproduction in any medium,provided the original author and source are credited.