Epidemiologic profile of cutaneous leishmaniasis between 2010-2016 in an endemic area of Fars province, south Iran

Background: Leishmaniasis contains a group of zoonotic diseases that is caused by infected phlebotomine sand flies with a flagellate protozoa of the genus Leishmania. It has a wide range of different clinical symptoms on humans and animals. The aim of this study was to determine some epidemiological aspects of patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis referring to Marvdasht health center, Fars Province, Iran. Methods: This descriptive-analytic study was conducted on the epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis from 2010 to 2016. Accordingly, demographic and clinical data of all patients recorded in Marvdasht Health Center, the Infectious Diseases Unit. All data were extracted and analyzed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, Kruskal Wallis and Chi-square using SPSS version 16 software. Results: Based on the findings, the mean age of the patients was 32.9 ± 26.9 and the incidence of disease in males was higher (53.6%) than females. The age group 21 to 30 years old (22.9%) had the most cases. The average duration of exposure to detection of the disease was 4.9 ± 1.38 months. The prevalence of wet lesions was significantly higher than dry lesions, and the average size of the lesions was 4.27 cm. The average number of lesions was 1.58 cm per person, and most of them were in hands (% 39.6) and feet (21.4%). The incidence of disease was higher in the autumn than other seasons and it was occured more in rural areas. Conclusions: Marvdasht city is an endemic area of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran. Our results showed that the number of cases reported has fluctuated in recent years. Therefore, it is very important for the health system to implement an accurate and effective continuous monitoring strategy for this important vector-borne disease in this part of the country

Keywords:

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis , Epidemiology , Marvdasht , Iran