Session Speaker

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: Topical, Safe, Cheap, Effective Herbal Remedy "Z-HE"
Zerehsaz F, Rezaian Gh.R, Beheshti Sh, Joubeh S, Salmanpour R
Iran

Background: There are some 20 millions patient affected World-wide with CL(Cutaneous Leishmaniasis) with one million new cases annually distributed in Asia, Africa, South America, etc. The standard therapy since decades is the antimonial compounds. Its low cure rate, cost, the many side effects, complications & contraindications limits its use widely.

Objective: It is the first time in medicine to have an effective, topical, low cost, herbal remedy, free from side effects, with no complications and contraindications to treat this wide-spread, disfiguring infectious disease.

Materials & Method: A total number of 171 patients with ACL(Acute Cuataneous Leishmaniasis), 42 patients with CCL(Chronic Cuataneous Leishmaniasis) and 14 patients with ECL(Erysipeloid Cutaneous leishmaniasis) underwent treatment. The drug was a mixture of herbs such as (Althaea rosa, Althaea officinalis and members of the family Leguminosa faliacaea, Malvacaea and Lythracaea named “Z-HE”, used as a topical paste once daily for 4-5 consecutive days.

Result: The cure rate was 74.4%-90% for ACL, CCL& ECL respectively, with no scar left behind in most cases. Interestingly, cure is found to be more rapid in the extensive and wide-spread lesions than in the simple ones! There were no side effects, neither complication nor any contraindications in the last two decades in treating patients.

Conclusions: “Z-HE” is quite effective, cheap, free from side effect or complications and has no any contraindications. “Z-HE” is safe, easy to apply and can be a quite promising drug for the treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

Articles published in:

1- International J. of Dermatology 1999,38,610-612 “ A double-blind randomized…”
2- Iranian J. of Medical Science Dec.2000; 25( 3&4):114-118 “Amastigote-positive..”
3- Lebanese Medical J. 2001,vol 49(3)143-145 “ Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: what…”
4- Eurpean J. Dermatol 2003;13:145-8 “ Erysipeloid Cutaneous Leishmaniasis:Treat..”