title: American cutaneous leishmaniasis in children and adolescents from Northcentral Venezuela.
abstract: American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL) comprises a broad range of cutaneous manifestations caused by different Leishmania species which may produce severe and chronic sequelae in adults. However, it has been suggested that ACL may show different clinical and epidemiological features in children and adolescents that need to be further elucidated. We evaluated the epidemiological features of ACL in a cohort of pediatric patients from Northcentral Venezuela between years 1997 and 2005. Mean age of patients was 9 years old, with a mean clinical evolution of 3 months. Lesions were located mostly in extremities. Forty patients (93%) were positive by MST, 97.7% by IFAT and 48.8% by smear. MST values tended to be related to patients' age, higher values being recorded in older patients (p=0.153).
authors.affiliation: Immunoparasitology Section, Tropical Medicine Institute, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Olinda
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Delgado
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Coraspe
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ribas
authors.forename: Alfonso J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Morales
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franco-Paredes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D012882:Skin Tests; D014687:Venezuela / Q000453:epidemiology