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Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) can be seen in 2 forms, zoonotic and anthroponotic, in Iran. In this study, epidemiological aspects of CL were studied during an 8-year period (2009–2016) in city of Kashan, central Iran. The demographic and epidemiological data, including age, sex, occupation, number and site of the lesions, treatment regimen, past history of CL, and season of all patients were gathered from the health centers. Descriptive statistics were used to describe features of the study data. Total 2,676 people with CL were identified. The highest annual incidence was estimated to be 182 per 100,000 population in 2009 and the least was in 2016 (47 per 100,000 population). The highest frequency affected age groups were observed in 20–29 year-old patients (20.9%). More than 51% of the patients were under 30 years old. The maximum frequency of the disease, 1,134 (43.3%), was seen in autumn. The most common location of lesions was hands (61.4%). Most of the patients (81.6%) were treated by systemic glucantime regimen. In the city of Kashan, the incidence rate of the CL disease is significantly higher than many other regions of Iran. To reduce the risk of disease, control of reservoir hosts and vectors of disease, and education of individual protection are strongly recommended.

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Tamoxifen is an antagonist of the estrogen receptor and currently used for the treatment of breast cancer. The current treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis with pentavalent antimony compounds is not satisfactory. Therefore, in this study, due to its antileishmanial activity, effects of tamoxifen on the growth of promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania major Iranian strain were evaluated in vitro. Promastigotes and amastigotes were treated with different concentrations (1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 μg/ml) and time periods (24, 48, and 72 hr) of tamoxifen. After tamoxifen treatment, MTT assay (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 biphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay) was used to determine the percentage of live parasites and Graph Pad Prism software to calculate IC50. Flow cytometry was applied to investigate the induction of tamoxifen-induced apoptosis in promastigotes. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of tamoxifen on promastigotes was 2.6 μg/ml after 24 hr treatment. Flow cytometry analysis showed that tamoxifen induced early and late apoptosis in Leishmania promastigotes. While after 48 hr in control group the apoptosis was 2.0%, the 50 µg/L concentration of tamoxifen increased it to 59.7%. Based on the in vitro antileishmanial effect, tamoxifen might be used for leishmaniasis treatment; however, further researches on in vivo effects of tamoxifen in animal models are needed.

The leishmaniases are parasitic diseases that are transmitted to humans by infected female sandflies. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is one of 3 main forms of the disease. CL is the most common form of the disease and is endemic in many urban and rural parts of Iran and usually caused by two species of Leishmania: L. major and L. tropica. We report a case of unusual leishmaniasis with 25 lesions on exposed parts of the body and right eyelid involvement (ocular leishmaniasis). The patient was a 75-year-old male farmer referred to health care center in Aran va Bidgol city. The disease was diagnosed by direct smear, culture, and PCR from the lesions. PCR was positive for Leishmania major.

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Amaç: Kutanöz leishmaniasis (KL), tropik ve subtropik bölgelerde görülen sık parazitik enfeksiyonlardan biridir ve İran'daki önemli sağlık sorunlarındandır. İsfahan Bölgesi'ndeki Aran va Bidgol şehrinde KL'yi epidemiyolojik açıdan araştırmak için bu çalışmayı Orta İran'da yaptık. Yöntemler: Bu kesitsel çalışma 2009 ve 2016 yılları arasında 8 yıllık dönemde yapıldı. Bütün hastalardan smear alındı ve ışık mikroskobu ile incelendi. Sağlık merkezlerine yönlendirilen KL tanılı hastaların temel demografik ve klinik bilgileri toplandı ve SPSS programı ile analiz edildi. Bulgular: Dokuz yüz yirmi altı KL tanısı konmuş hastanın 542'si (%58,5) erkek, 384'ü (%41,5) kadındı. KL erkeklerde daha fazlaydı (%58,5). En yüksek ve en düşük KL insidansı 100000'de 238,5 ve 44,2 ile sırasıyla 2009 ve 2016'da saptanmıştır. En yüksek insidans %26,3 ile 0-9 yaş grubu hastalarda saptandı. Sonbahar en sık hasta görülen mevsimdi (%54). En çok lezyon ellerde görüldü (%44,7). Hastaların %65,4'ü sistemik glucantime rejimi ile tedavi edildi. Sonuç: Çalışmamızın sonuçlarına göre, 8 senelik dönemde KL insidansı düşme trendinde olsa da halen KL insidansı yüksektir. Bu, telaşlandırıcı bir durumdur; hastalığın kontrolü ve önlenmesi için dikkatli bir planlama yapılması oldukça önemlidir.