Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences (Mar 2003)
The Epidemiological Study of Cutaneous Leishmaniaisis Situation in the Students of Primary School in Isfahan Borkhar Region.
Abstract
Cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the important parasitic disease of tropical, subtropical, and warm and damp areas, major endemic foci of which are present in various regions of Iran, including Isfahan province,. The first step in reducing the burden of a disease is acknowledging its epidemiology. This descriptiveanalytic study was performed on the students of primary school for diagnosis of suspected cutaneous leishmaniasis by the census method. during a 9 months period in 1378-79 school year. The physician diagnosed active lesions and then made test of the lesion edges by using. Giemsa stain and microscope for the detection of amastigotes. Epidemiological data and sampling results were recorded in a questionnaire and analyzed by spss. Results obtained from this study indicated that the prevalence and incidence of the disease in the students under study was 26% and 6.2% respectively. Statistical tests (X2 , t) indicated that the ratio of contamination to the active ulcer or the scar had significant discrepancy with the sex, age, parents literacy but not with residential areas. Most frequency was observed one lesion in 1212 cases (43.9%) and least frequency 13 in 1 case (0.3%). Lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis were mainly seen on the exposed parts of the body such as face (35.3%), hand (29.2%) leg (27%), trunk (6.7%) and neck (1.8%). This study made distinct that the contamination by the cutaneous leishmaniusis in the students of the Borkhar had a condsiderable increase compared with the similar studies. Thus, it is required to conduct more epidemiological surveys in Borkhar in order to prevent and control the spread of the disease.
