title: Mediterranean visceral leishmaniasis associated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
abstract: We report a case of Mediterranean visceral leishmaniasis (MVL) associated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) from the South of Iran. The patient, a 12-year-old girl, was known to be a case of ALL and had bone pain and prolonged fever on referral. A trephine biopsy revealed a hypocellular marrow with many amastigotes. Moreover, by specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on peripheral blood, a 145 bp band corresponding to kDNA from the genus Leishmania was detected and the species was identified as Leishmania infantum using nested PCR. The patient was treated successfully with two courses of amphotericin B plus IFN-gamma. To our knowledge this is first report of MVL/ALL from Iran and possibly the world.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. mahdif53@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fakhar
authors.forename: Qasem
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Asgari
authors.forename: Mohammad Hossein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Motazedian
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monabati
mesh_terms: D000666:Amphotericin B / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007492:Iran; D018314:Leishmania infantum / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000469:parasitology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000150:complications*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D000666:Amphotericin B; D007371:Interferon-gamma