Exploring recent spatial patterns of cutaneous leishmaniasis and their associations with climate in some countries of the Middle East using geographical information systems

Abstract

Abstract. This study explores the spatial trends of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and characterises the relationships between the observed spatial patterns and climate in Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia in 2009. Areal interpolation revealed the presence of four major hotspots of relatively high incidence rates covering most parts of Syria, central parts of Iraq, and north-western, central, south-eastern and south-western parts of Saudi Arabia. The severity of these hotspots was seen to decrease from high to low latitudes. The spatial patterns could be partly linked to precipitation (the higher the precipitation, the higher the incidence rates) and to a lesser degree to temperature (the lower the temperature, the higher the incidence rates). No significant relationship was deduced between the observed spatial patterns of incidence rates and humidity. However, these three climatic factors could be used jointly as explanatory variables (ceteris paribus) to explain part of the spatial variations of the CL incidence rates in the study area by applying geographically weighted regression.

The Geographical Distribution of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Causative Agents in Iran and Its Neighboring Countries, A Review

“…Overall, studies report that most cases of CL (about 90%) are caused by L. tropica (122). In 2009 (precivil war), of the 51,119 reported cases of CL in Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, some 90.7% of cases were reported from Syria, making Syria the highest burden country for ACL in the region (123). Displacement of Syrian refugees to neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey has led to outbreaks of CL and altered the local epidemiology (124).…”

Effect of temperature, rainfall and relative density of rodent reservoir hosts on zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis incidence in Central Tunisia

“…CL incidence rates in Jordan, Syria, Iraq and SaudiArabia [31] seem to have a positive relationship with precipitation and negative relationship with temperature. Though, no relationship was identified betweenthe disease incidence rates and the humidity.…”

Incidence of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Hail Government and its Surrounding Villages - KSA

“…According to the Ministry Of Heath statistical reports, 2002-2014, the top five cities that have endemic CL are Al Qaseem, Al Madinah Al Munawarrah, Riyadh, Al Hassa and Asser. Hail city and its provinces follow them at the sixth place of having this disease; the average reported incidence of CL in Hail is 183 case/year [10][11][12][13][14][15], thereby, our present retrospective study aimed at describing the incidence of CL in Hail city and its provinces over a two -year period (2014-2015).…”