Cutaneous leishmaniasis: an epidemiological study in southwest of Iran

Soltani, Shahrzad; Foroutan, Masoud; Hezarian, Maryam; Afshari, Hamed; Kahvaz, Mehdi Sagha

doi:10.1007/s12639-018-1073-0

Original Article
Published: 02 January 2019

Cutaneous leishmaniasis: an epidemiological study in southwest of Iran

Journal of Parasitic Diseases volume 43, pages 190–197 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

The current study was aimed to evaluate the frequency and epidemiological aspects of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in the southwest of Iran, an endemic focus for the leishmaniasis from 2014 to 2017. In the present retrospective cross-sectional study, all suspicious CL persons who were referred to health centers affiliated to Abadan School of Medical Sciences (Abadan and Khorramshahr cities) were tested. In this regard, both clinical and parasitological (staining with Giemsa) verifications were performed to diagnose a case. Furthermore, a structured questionnaire containing some demographic details was applied for each positive patient. In total, 151 and 132 positive CL cases were identified in Abadan and Khorramshahr cities, respectively. More frequency of CL was observed during the Winter season, among male subjects, and in urban inhabitants in both cities. The incidence of CL based on age distribution was higher in the age range of 20–30 years than others. Besides, the hands and feet were the most involved organs. Although the frequency of CL has declined in the region, CL is still a public health problem. More appropriate control strategies are required to limit and eliminate the infection in the future.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all staff at the healthcare centers in Abadan and Khorramshahr cities. We are very grateful to Dr Faezeh Hedayati-Rad (Department of Environmental Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran) for her helpful consultation and comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This study was financially supported by Grant No (96ST-0141) from Student Research Committee, Abadan School of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran.

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Affiliations

Student Research Committee, Abadan School of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran
Shahrzad Soltani, Masoud Foroutan, Maryam Hezarian, Hamed Afshari & Mehdi Sagha Kahvaz
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Masoud Foroutan

Authors

Shahrzad Soltani
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Masoud Foroutan
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Maryam Hezarian
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Hamed Afshari
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Mehdi Sagha Kahvaz
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Contributions

SS and MF designed the study protocol; SS, MH, HA, and MSK collected the data and involved in statistical analysis; MF and SS drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masoud Foroutan.

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Conflict interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Ethical statement

All subjects voluntarily agreed to be tested. An informed consent was obtained from adult persons and parent or guardian of children less than 15 years old. This study received the approval from the Abadan School of Medical Sciences Ethical Committee (1396.234). Ethical issues (including plagiarism, misconduct, data fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, redundancy, etc.) have been completely observed by the authors.

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Soltani, S., Foroutan, M., Hezarian, M. et al. Cutaneous leishmaniasis: an epidemiological study in southwest of Iran. J Parasit Dis 43, 190–197 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-018-1073-0

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Received: 27 September 2018
Accepted: 12 December 2018
Published: 02 January 2019
Issue Date: 01 June 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-018-1073-0

Keywords

Cutaneous leishmaniasis
Leishmania
Epidemiology
Southwest of Iran