The Epidemiology of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Ardestan City, Iran, during the Years 2012 to 2019

Isfahan province is one of the major foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran, and Ardestan City with 93 foci is one of the infected areas. This study aimed to examine the disease trend in the last seven years considering the environmental and ecological changes in Ardestan.

The present study was a retrospective and census type. 1278 cases enrolled in the study who were diagnosed with the acute form of leishmaniasis in Ardestan during the years 2012-2019, and also had a file in Ardestan health care centers. Patients information about age, sex, residency, occupation, place of work, the month of incidence of illness, duration of illness, number of wounds, nationality and date of incidence were entered in the related checklists.

The highest prevalence of leishmaniasis was observed among young Ardestanian with 20-29 years old and with a rate of 38.4%, and the lowest prevalence rate was observed in Zavareh villages with the rate of 5.0%. Moreover, the incidence of disease was significantly higher in men, natives infected compared to immigrants, and patients who live in urban areas compared to rural areas. In terms of occupation, "housewife/unemployed" had the highest prevalence. Besides, children, adolescents, and young people have the highest frequency. The incidence rate in Ardestan was also estimated 1.2 per thousand people

Although, the rate of incidence has been decreasing during 2012-2018 due to reasons such as carrying out programs to control vectors and reservoirs, but increasing rate of incidence of disease in 2019 in the area shows the importance of public health problem of this endemic disease.