Visceral Leishmaniasis in Mazandaran Province and Review on its Current Situation in Iran

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or kala-azar is an important infectious disease which is caused by an intracellular protozoan belonged to Leishmania donovani complex. Leishmania infantum is the main agent of VL in Mediterranean regions such as Iran and Leishmania tropica is second etiological agent as well. Dog and canidae family considered as main reservoirs and different species of sandflies such as phlebotomous major is the main vector for VL in Iran. Currently, VL is endemic in five provinces of the country including Ardabil, East Azerbaijan, Fars, Bushehr and Qom provinces. Moreover, sporadic cases are reported from other provinces. If left untreated it can be fatal, with up to 98% mortality rate, especially in children. As a whole, we believed that the VL is as a neglected disease in some provinces of Iran such as Mazandaran province. In this paper, we mention regarding history of VL in Mazandaran province, additionally review the current status of VL in Iran and also some efficient and possible factors on reemerging of the VL in Mazandaran province.

Keywords

• visceral leishmaniasis
• kala-azar
• epidemiology
• reemerging
• neglected disease