Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Parasitology 1735-7020 9 1 2014 03 15 1 5 EN Azam Tofighi Naeem Department of Infectious Disease, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Shima Mahmoudi Pediatric Infectious Diseases Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Farah Saboui Department of Infectious Disease, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Homa Hajjaran Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Babak Pourakbari Pediatric Infectious Diseases Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mehdi Mohebali Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mohammad Reza Zarkesh Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Setareh Mamishi Department of Infectious Disease, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran AND Pediatric Infectious Diseases Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2015 10 14   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. https://ijpa.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijpa/article/view/440 https://ijpa.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijpa/article/download/440/298