Abstract
Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease caused by flagellated protozoans of the genus Leishmania. This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological status of Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) and Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) among patients admitted to a university hospital in Istanbul, located in western Turkey. This study included 160 and 77 patients with a pre-diagnosis of VL and CL, respectively, between January 2001 and December 2017. Detailed demographic data, including age, gender, nationality and the number and location of lesions were collected and recorded from the patient registries. Among 160 bone marrow specimens that suspected as VL, 22 (13.7%) of the specimens that were evaluated with both culture and Giemsa staining detected as positive. Furthermore, 29 (37.7%) of the 77 patients suspected for CL showed evidence of Leishmania. The increase in human immigration from neighbouring countries (with a high incidence of leishmaniasis) to Turkey might increase the risk of spreading the disease. This situation could result in a higher prevalence in metropolitan cities like Istanbul, where the country's population is concentrated.
Highlights
Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease caused by flagellated protozoans of the genus Leishmania
Some studies over recent years have reported that L. infantum and L. major were detected in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) cases, and L. tropica was detected in Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) cases [5,7,8,9]
This could be due to migrants entering the country from Syria to escape the ongoing civil war; their numbers have reached approximately 4 million, which has necessitated the revision of possible measures [10,11]. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the epidemiological situation of VL and CL among the patients admitted to the university hospital in Istanbul located in northwest Turkey
Summary
Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease caused by flagellated protozoans of the genus Leishmania. Leishmaniasis has become a national problem in Turkey ( in some endemic regions) and has started to be detected all over the country This could be due to migrants entering the country from Syria to escape the ongoing civil war; their numbers have reached approximately 4 million, which has necessitated the revision of possible measures [10,11].
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