Clinical relevance of the antibacterial activity of terbinafine: a contralateral comparison between 1% terbinafine cream and 0.1% gentamicin sulphate cream in pyoderma.

The antibacterial efficacy of 1% terbinafine cream and 0.1% gentamicin sulphate cream was evaluated in 33 patients with superficial staphylococcal pyoderma in a double-blind contralateral comparison. After 12 days of active treatment, Staphylococcus aureus could be grown from only one out of 33 patients using terbinafine vs no patient using gentamicin. At the end of the study, a marked improvement in clinical symptoms was observed with no significant difference between the two therapies. Despite reviewing the patients three times during the course of the study, no adverse events were reported. The results of this study demonstrate that terbinafine has clinically relevant antibacterial properties which may be useful not only in pyoderma, but also in mixed fungal/bacterial infections, such as athlete's foot.