Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Pediatric Patients in a Single Tertiary Hospital in Ankara

Abstract

Objective: Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease that is caused by a protozoan parasite of the Leishmania genus and that occurs worldwide. Leishmaniasis is endemic in southeastern Turkey and the neighboring Middle Eastern countries. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics of patients admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Methods: A total of 16 CL patients [11 (69%) boys and five (31%) girls] were admitted between January 2014 and December 2015. The data of the patients were retrospectively recorded from their medical records. Results: Their mean age was 74.3±32.3 months (range: 1-10.5 years). Double lesions were most commonly seen in eight (50%) patients. The face and neck was the most commonly involved site (87.5% of the patients). Skin smears for a parasitological examination were positive in nine (56%) patients. Two patients (12.5%) with limb lesions were treated with intralesional meglumine antimoniate. Fourteen patients were treated with systemic agents. Conclusion: We felt that the increase in human movement that include travels and forced migration due to the war might make it possible for CL to appear in non-endemic provinces such as Ankara. In particular, in patients with painless cutaneous lesion(s) who came from endemic areas such as Syria, CL should be kept in mind by the clinicians that residing in even non-endemic areas . Keywords: Cutaneous leishmaniasis, children, refugees from Syria Received: 03.03.

Pediatrik Kutanöz Leishmania Olgularının Değerlendirilmesi

“…In our study, CL lesions were most commonly found on the face, followed by the feet and hands. Similarly, Kaya et al and Kaman et al reported that CL lesions were most common in the face and neck region (10)(11). We attributed this to the fact that sandflies infect more open areas such as the face and neck.…”

“…In the study of Aksoy et al, it was reported that intralesional treatment was more common, and in the study of Kaman et al, cases who were given systemic treatment were more frequent (10,17). In our study, 71% of the cases were given intralesional and 28% systemic treatment.…”

“…Our country hosts more than 4 million refugees, especially from endemic regions such as Syria and Iraq. Kaman et al reported 16 pediatric CL cases from Ankara province, which is not one of the endemic regions of our country (10). In our study, we found 21 pediatric CL cases in Eskişehir, which were not endemic leishmaniasis.…”

“…In our study, pediatric CL was more common in girls than boys. In the study of Cömert et al and Kireçci et al, CL was more common in girls, while in the study of Kaman et al, it was more common in boys (10,(13)(14). The fact that CL cases are more common in girls in immigrants can be explained by the fact that more women work in open areas such as fields and gardens.…”