Cutaneous leishmaniasis in primary school children in the south-eastern Iranian city of Bam, 1994-95.
Between August 1994 and July 1995, 11,517 primary school children aged 6-11 years in the south-eastern Iranian city of Bam, comprising 5560 (48.3%) girls and 5957 (51.7%) boys, were examined for the presence of active lesions or scars of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). There was a trend towards increasing prevalence with age, the prevalence being 10.7% in 6-year-old and 20% in > or = 11-year-old children. Overall, 1.3% of the children had active lesions and 14.3% had scars. There was no significant difference between the sexes in the prevalence of active lesions and/or scars. Of the children examined, 54 (0.5%) had leishmaniasis recidivans: 19 girls (35.2%) and 35 boys (64.8%). The number of active lesions or scars per child ranged from 1 to 10. The majority (82.3%) had 1 lesion, 12.4% had 2 lesions, and 5.3% had > or = 3. The average number of lesions was 1.08 (1.03 in girls and 1.18 in boys). The face was the part of the body most commonly involved (63.6%), followed by the hands (20.9%), legs (12.8%) and other parts of the body (2.7%). Examination of isolates from 14 children revealed that in 13 (92.9%) the causal organism was Leishmania tropica and in the other (7.1%) L. major. The survey indicates that the geographical distribution of CL is far wider than previously thought. It also shows that Bam is a suitable areas for a vaccine field trial.
Sharifi
I
I
Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Medical School, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Fekri
A R
AR
Aflatonian
M R
MR
Nadim
A
A
Nikian
Y
Y
Kamesipour
A
A
D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution