Cutaneous leishmaniasis in Persian medicine

Background and purpose: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is caused by infection with Leishmania parasites. Standard treatment of CL includes pentavalent antimonials that are currently used in severe cases due to prolonged systemic therapy, high toxicity, complications, low efficacy, and resistance against the drug. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new drugs or combination therapy for treatment of CL. The aim of this study was to review CL and its treatments in Persian medicine. Materials and methods: In this review study, relevant information was collected using 15 text books of Persian medicine. Balkh sore, Balkhieh, and Baghdad sore were used as search keywords. Notetaking was done and data was classified, compared, and finally a conclusion was drawn. Results: Epidemiology, etiology, clinical findings, and treatment of CL from viewpoints of Persian medicine were extracted. Conclusion: Traditional Persian medicine and its efficient treatment methods should be further assessed in clinical trials. By this, new treatments with lower complications and costs could be proposed alongside current treatments for CL. © 2016, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved