Epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the city of Hawizeh in 2014-2015

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease and one of the most important endemic diseases in Iran. It is considered as the second most alarming parasitic disease next to malaria transmitted by arthropods. This disease is a health problem in more than 15 provinces of the country. Given that cutaneous leishmaniasis is the endemic disease in Hawizeh, the present study was aimed to investigate its epidemiology in this city.
This descriptive-analytical survey was performed on all confirmed leishmaniasis cases (totally 137 person) following up in Hawizeh district health care centers during 2014-15. Patients, general information such as age, sex, habitat, number and site of ulcer, as well as the month of incidence were registered and analyzed by Excel software. All ethical issues were also addressed.
The results of the present survey indicate that the outbreak of the disease was 343 in 100,000. Furthermore, 65 cases out of the total study group (47.4%) were men and the remaining 72 people (52.6%) were women. About 70.8% of patients resided in urban areas, while 29.2% lived in rural areas. The most frequent age group was 1-10 years old (54%). Hands and feet and face were the most common lesion
(83.9%) and about 51.8% of the patients had one ulcer. Highest disease prevalence was observed in winter.
According to these results and the adverse effects of this disease, the implementation of proper planning to educate people and environment sanitation are thereby highly advocated.