Comparison between systemic and intralesional meglumine antimoniate therapy in a primary health care unit

•Intralesional meglumine antimoniate cured 90% cutaneous leishmaniasis patients.•Intralesional therapy was as effective as standard systemic antimonial treatment.•Mild to moderate and reversible adverse events occurred in 43% of patients.•No patient had to discontinue treatment.•All patients remained cured up to one year of follow-up. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is not a life-threatening condition. However, its treatment can cause serious adverse effects and may sometimes lead to death. Recently, safer local treatments have been included among therapies acceptable to New World CL cases, but the use of intralesional meglumine antimoniate (IL-MA) is recommended to be performed in reference centers, for patients with single cutaneous lesions 3 cm in diameter, lesions located in the head or in periarticular regions, or had been administered IL-MA volumes >5 mL. Patients responded well (68.4% and 66.7% for the MA and IL-MA groups, respectively). When a second cycle of treatment was necessary, the responses were 72.4% and 90%, respectively. There were no significant differences between groups. In the IL-MA group, 43% had mild to moderate adverse effects, without needing treatment discontinuation. Results suggest that the treatment of CL lesions with IL-MA is simple, efficient, and safe.