title: New epidemiological aspects of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis in Taza, Morocco.
abstract: Leishmaniasis is considered among the main endemic diseases in Morocco. However, further knowledge about epidemiological aspects of this disease is needed in several provinces to plan control and preventive strategies to tackle the disease. The present study aims to determine the epidemiological aspect of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis in Taza Province from 2007-2014 and to identify the circulating species in this province.
  
  
  
  The temporal study from 2007 to 2014 showed that the number of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases increased since 2010. During the period of study, most leishmaniasis cases were detected in both urban and rural areas with 34% of cases detected in two urban localities, Bab Zitouna and Bab tété with 297 and 106 cases, respectively. The molecular study of cutaneous leishmaniasis showed the presence of non-sporadic Leishmania infantum and Leishmania tropica in this province. Regarding visceral leishmaniasis, Leishmania infantum is the species that has been identified.
  
  
  
  The epidemio-molecular study of leishmaniasis in Taza Province showed the coexistence of two species of Leishmania in the same foci. They also indicated that CL due to Leishmania infantum is more prevalent than reported in the literature. These results will be helpful for the implementation of control strategies by targeting dogs that constitute a reservoir of Leishmania infantum.
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory of Leishmaniasis, National Institute of Hygiene, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco. maryam.hakkour@gmail.com.|Laboratory of Zoology and General Biology, Faculty of Science, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco. maryam.hakkour@gmail.com.|Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary, Rabat, Morocco. maryam.hakkour@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hakkour
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory of Leishmaniasis, National Institute of Hygiene, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco.|Laboratory of Microbial Biotechnology, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Asmae
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hmamouch
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory of Leishmaniasis, National Institute of Hygiene, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco.|Laboratory of Zoology and General Biology, Faculty of Science, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mohamed Mahmoud
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: El Alem
authors.affiliation: Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Abdelkbir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rhalem
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nursing Professions and Health Techniques, Casablanca, Morocco.
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amarir
authors.affiliation: Delegation of Health, Taza, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Touzani
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Zoology and General Biology, Faculty of Science, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Abderrahim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sadak
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory of Leishmaniasis, National Institute of Hygiene, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Hajiba
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fellah
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory of Leishmaniasis, National Institute of Hygiene, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Faiza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sebti
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D018314:Leishmania infantum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007895:Leishmania tropica / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D009018:Morocco / Q000453:epidemiology; D012424:Rural Population; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D014505:Urban Population
keywords: ITS1-PCR-RFLP; Leishmania infantum; Leishmania tropica; Leishmaniasis; Morocco; Taza Province