Autochthonous Outbreak of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis due to Leishmania infantum in Corrientes Province, Argentina

Abstract

Endemic cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in northern Argentina has traditionally been caused by Leishmania braziliensis. This study aims to describe an outbreak of Leishmania infantum-caused human CL in the Department Capital of Corrientes Province, Argentina. We retrospectively analyzed the reported cases of CL in this area from May 2015 to December 2016. Eighty cases of CL were clinically and analytically diagnosed, and there was one case of visceral leishmaniasis in a boy who also had CL. Patients' median age was 33.6 years (range 1-89 years), and 18.5% were younger than 15 years; the male:female ratio was 3.5:1. Cases lived mostly in the municipality of Corrientes (72.8%), whereas 27.2% resided in Riachuelo. Although 67.9% had a single lesion, 32.1% had several. Molecular analyses showed that L. infantum was the causative species in all cases. Our results show that for the first time, there was an outbreak of CL by L. infantum in an urban area of Argentina.

Ecological characterization of a cutaneous leishmaniasis outbreak through remotely sensed land cover changes

“…Since there seemed to be more than one CL case at some of the locations, we recovered 74 out of the 80 cases they analysed. Importantly, our original 25 CL cases roughly coincided in space and time with the core of the outbreak as reported by Acosta-Soto et al (2020).…”

“…We used two sources of CL human cases: one obtained jointly with agents of the Leishmaniasis Program in Corrientes Province during 2015-2016, and another obtained through digitization from a recently published map (Acosta-Soto et al, 2020). Both datasets correspond to the same outbreak, but they were treated separately since we did not have access to more detailed information as to perform a proper anamnesis and check for repeated cases.…”

“…However, recent research suggests that this was an outbreak due to the parasite that produces VL, i.e. an atypical urban CL outbreak despite the typical CL presentation, and that it could be the case of other CL outbreaks as well (Acosta-Soto et al, 2020). This new scenario would imply a significant increase in costs for leishmaniasis control programmes in terms of differential diagnosis and follow up of potential lethal visceralization of the human cases.…”

Case Series of Leishmaniasis Detected in Health Centers in the Department of Caaguazu, Paraguay in 2019

“…La leishmaniasis cutánea fue la más encontrada en esta serie de casos, provocada por Leishmania brasilienzis, al igual que en Argentina (17). En México la leishmaniasis cutánea es principalmente provocada por Leishmania mexicana (18), así también al norte del Amazonas es causada por Leishmania Amazonensis, y en otros continentes como Asia y África la especie causante es Leishmania major (19).…”

Distribution of Phlebotominae (Diptera: Psychodidade) species and human cases of leishmaniasis in the Province of Corrientes, Argentina

“…The province of Corrientes has reported cases of VL since 2009 (Salomón et al, 2011), while CL cases are reported since 1955 with epidemic outbreaks in 2003 in the town of Bella Vista (Salomón et al, 2006a) and 2015 in the town of Riachuelo (Acosta-Soto et al, 2020).…”