SAN FRANCISCO — The results of an open-label, controlled study suggest that the tuberculin skin test could be an effective treatment for warts, Dr. Abdulmajeed Alajlan reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.
He was intrigued by previously reported successes with Candida antigen against warts, so Dr. Alajlan of King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, decided to test whether the tuberculin skin test would have a similar effect.
The study he conducted involved 40 patients with warts who each received a single intradermal injection of the tuberculin skin test directly into one wart and another 20 patients who received single intradermal injections of normal saline into one wart.
The treatment was repeated in 4 weeks if there was no response to the first injection, for a maximum of three treatments, Dr. Alajlan said.
In all, 76% of the patients receiving tuberculin skin test responded to the treatment, compared with just 10% of the patients receiving placebo, a statistically significant difference.
To Dr. Alajlan's surprise, 36% of the responders experienced clearing of warts not only at the site of the injection, but at distant sites as well. A total of 45% of the responders required only a single treatment.
The only adverse events that Dr. Alajlan noted involved minor pain and swelling at the injection site. He is now conducting a similar study to see if the therapy works in immunocompromised patients as well.
