Epidemiological Study of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Marvdasht, Fars province, 2008-09

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) still remains and expands as a major health problem in many parts of the world, including Iran. The study was carried out to determine the epidemiological status of disease in Marvdasht, a county of Fars province, in 2008-09. This cross-sectional study has been done on cases referred to Marvdasht health center which their disease has been diagnosed and approved using clinical and parasitological methods. The data were gathered from epidemiologic forms and were analyzed using STATA version 9, and by Chi-Square, Fisher exact and Mann-Whitney test. Out of 2627 cases, 1377 and 1290 were diagnosed in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The disease was found frequently in male (60.3 %), autumn (53.8 %) and in 15-30 years old group (40 %). Also, the most of patients were resident in city (57.5 %) and new buildings (72 %). There was significance relationship between number of lesion and gender, type of building and season of disease start. Regarding to more occurrence of the disease in male and 15-30 years old cases and also in city and new building residents, it is important these factors to be considered in designing and implementing of prevention and control programs.