Epidemiological Features of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Fars Province, Southern Iran

BACKGROUND: To describe the epidemiological features of pediatric visceral leishmaniasis in southern Iran. METHODS: This retrospective study was carried out using local hospital records of VL patients from 2001 through 2009. Data such as age, gender, place of residence, clinical signs and symptoms, treatment, history of recurrence were recorded. The collected data were statistically analyzed using SPSS software. RESULTS: A total of 260 cases of VL have been recorded during 2001 to 2009 in south of Iran, based on hospital records. Mean age of patients was 3.5 years with the highest prevalence in 2 years old patients. The diseases have been more common in males (60%). The main clinical signs and symptoms of the patients were fever (96.2%), hepatosplenomegaly (68.8%) and abdominal protrusion (71.9%). Most of cases were from Kazeroun County (17.5%) in Fars Province followed by Borazjan in Boushehr Province. Bone marrow aspirations have been performed in 178 of cases and Leishmania amastigotes were detected in only 50 (28.1%) cases. Glucantime has been the first drug treatment while 19.3% of cases have been treated with amphotericin B. Mortality rate was 6.2% and children under 1 year old have been the main victim of the disease. Relapse has been noted in 7.3% of patients. CONCLUSION: VL is still endemic in South of Iran, especially in Fars Province with a noticeable mortality rate. Moreover, cases of the diseases are reporting from neighboring provinces and this might be due to the spreading of the diseases to the adjacent provinces.