Covid -19 pandemic and epidemiological pattern of cutaneous leishmaniasis occurrence in Iran

Abstract

Limited data is available on the impact of pandemic on the epidemiological pattern of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Covid-19 pandemic and the occurrence of CL. Patients’ data in one-year interval, before the Covid-19 pandemic and the same timespan during Covid-19 pandemic that were clinically and laboratory confirmed were extracted from the Leishmania center of Bam city. Demographic data and disease characters including sex, age, frequency and location of lesion and treatment was statistically analyzed. The frequency of CL is cases in the time interval before the Covid-19 pandemic (168 patients) was higher than the same timespan during the pandemic (119 patients). The majority of cases (156) were women. The mean age of patients was 29.91±21.60. No significant differences were observed in age, sex, number of lesions, treatment regimen, duration of treatment and location of skin lesions in patients before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Current study showed that the frequency of CL in Bam city, an important endemic area of CL, during the Covid-19 pandemic has decreased compared to the time before pandemic but there was no significant difference in terms of mean age, sex of patients, number of lesions, length of treatment, treatment regimen and location of lesions before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Further studies are needed on the role of the Covid-19 pandemic in the epidemiological pattern of CL.