First report of treatment failure in a patient with cutaneous leishmaniasis infected by Leishmania (Viannia) naiffi carrying Leishmania RNA virus: a fortuitous combination?

• Published in: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Main Authors: Ricardo Vieira-Gonçalves, Giselle Aparecida Fagundes-Silva, Júlia Furtado Heringer, Maria Fantinatti, Alda Maria Da-Cruz, Manoel Paes Oliveira-Neto, Jorge Augusto Oliveira Guerra, Adriano Gomes-Silva
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2019
• Subjects: Leishmania (Viannia) naiffi; Therapeutic failure; Leishmania RNA virus; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0323-2018; https://doaj.org/article/f9957c141a074a4eb23aea3290720200

Abstract We report the case of a 32-year-old man from Rio de Janeiro, who was infected in the Amazon region of Brazil by Leishmania (Viannia) naiffi. Generally, patients with L. naiffi cutaneous leishmaniasis exhibit a good therapeutic response to either pentavalent antimonials or pentamidine. However, after pentamidine treatment, this patient’s infection evolved to therapeutic failure. To understand this clinical outcome, we investigated the presence of the Leishmania RNA virus (LRV) in parasites isolated from the cutaneous lesion; herein, we discuss the possible association between a poor response to pentamidine therapy and the presence of the LRV.