Leishmaniasis in Southwest Asian and African and prevention, treatment Methods

Cutaneous and visceral forms of leishmaniasis are the most important protozoan infection in the Southwest Asian and Africa. The disease is currently a major public health problem and an impediment to development worldwide, especially in tropical and subtropical countries, resulting in social, economic, mental and health impacts. Much data is still missing concerning the risk factors of the infection and the lesion development, as well as vector and reservoir ecology and behavior. The knowledge of such parameters, following multidisciplinary and integrated approaches, is crucial for better management and control of the disease, that also faces a lack of resources and efficient control measures. In this study, has been pointed to the importance of familiarity of health personnel with the methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in iran and a number of southwest Asian and African countries.

This study conducted as a literature review. More than 170 articles selected by searching scientific sources with published dates of 1990 to 2019 using key words such as cutaneous leishmaniasis, diagnosis and control, vector, reservoir, epidemiology, middle-east and military areas from the available databases such as Science Direct, Google Scholar, PubMed, Iran Medex, Scopus, SID, Magiran. Then, unrelated articles were deleted and the necessary information was extracted by studying more than 107 articles and textbooks for parasitology.

There are four cycles of transmission of leishmaniasis: zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis,(ZCL) induce by Leishmania(L.) major, Zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL) is inducing by L. infantum, Anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL),induce by L. tropica and Anthroponotic visceral leishmaniasis (AVL) induces by L. donovani in humans.Things like poverty, high human migration, regional political upheavals and recent wars and crises, and poor health and livelihoods have led to widespread leishmaniasis spread around the world, including in Southwest and African countries. These conditions have seriously endangered the health of the people of those countries and the travelers and migrants to these areas.

There are many challenges facing the successful control of leishmaniasis. Considering the increasing rate of leishmaniasis in recent years in different parts of the country and a number of countries around the world, that is necessary for the health authorities of the country and military forces stationed in border areas to have adequate and constructive information about clinical signs and methods of control, prevention, diagnosis and treatment and with accurate planning and necessary to prevent the spread of disease.