Articles

Clinical Features and Laboratory Findings of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Children Referred To Children Medical Center Hospital, Tehran, Iran during 2004-2011

Abstract

 

Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the most important parasitic diseases endemic in northwestern and southern areas of Iran. The aim of the pre-sent study was to review the records of children hospitalized with VL in order to characterize the clinical features of children as well as laboratory finding in Chil-dren Medical Center Hospital, Tehran, Iran.

Methods: The medical records of all children with a final diagnosis of VL were reviewed from 2004 to 2011. Demographic, clinical information, laboratory find-ing and treatment were considered.

Results: A total number of 34 children with confirmed VL through 2004-2011 were included in the study. The most prevalent sign and symptoms were fever (97.1%), pallor and weakness (97.1%), appetite loss (61.8%), splenomegaly (97.1%) and hepatomegaly (88.2%). The most frequent laboratory abnormalities were hematological including anemia (97.1%), thrombocytopenia (91.2%) and leukopenia (67.6%). Direct agglutination test (DAT) was performed in 23 cases and all of them showed anti-Leishmania antibodies with titers of ≥ 1: 3200. In addition, 90% of patients had positive rK39 results. Identification of Leishmania in the aspirates of the bone marrow was found in 83.3% of patients.

Conclusion: Regional surveillance system in order to monitoring of leishmania-sis trends as well as detection of new emerging foci is recommended.

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IssueVol 9 No 1 (2014) QRcode
SectionArticles
Keywords
Children Iran Visceral leishmaniasis
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How to Cite
1.
Tofighi Naeem A, Mahmoudi S, Saboui F, Hajjaran H, Pourakbari B, Mohebali M, Zarkesh MR, Mamishi S. Clinical Features and Laboratory Findings of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Children Referred To Children Medical Center Hospital, Tehran, Iran during 2004-2011. Iran J Parasitol. 1;9(1):1-5.