Background:Isfahan province is one of the common foci of the cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran, particularly the wet or rural zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL). Several factors other than the location of the disease are implicated in the epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis, such as the presence of sandflies as vectors and the role of rodents as reservoirs. These factors that contribute to the transmission of the disease include agricultural projects, migration of the non-immune individuals to the endemic areas, rapid and unplanned urbanization, environmental changes (such as irrigation, dam construction, and desertification). Objectives: Due to the lack of information about the epidemiology and prevalence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Isfahan province, Iran, this study was designed to investigate the aforementioned factors. Patients and Methods: Data were collected from the recorded data of patients with leishmaniasis referred to Isfahan Province Health Care Center, Isfahan, Iran. The patients were diagnosed by direct microscopic examination of the samples in Leishmaniasis and Skin Diseases Research Center and other health care centers. Data concerning demographic features, the number and location of lesions, duration of disease, area of residence, work location, the history of travel within the past two months, address, and telephone number of the patients was collected. The epidemiological status of leishmaniasis was determined from the recorded data. Results: In total, data of 28315 patients with leishmaniasis during 2001 to 2011 were studied .Among them, 10809 (38.2%) patients were female and 17491 (61.8%) patients were male. The mean age of the patients was 22.40 ± 16.52 years (range, 1-100 years). The incidence of lesions in different body parts was as follows: face, 12.1%; hands and legs, 12.3%; face and hands, 4.5%; legs, 24.1%; hands prevalence, 32.3%; and the other parts of body, 11.5%. The number of the lesions on the trunk ranged from one to three. In this study, 12163 (43%) patients had one, 6330 (22.4%) had two, 503 (8.1%) had three, and 8008 (28.3%) had more than three lesions. Overall, 17883 (63.2%) patients lived in urban areas and 8241 (29.1%) in rural areas and most of the cases were seen among those who lived in cities and urban areas. Conclusions: Considering the high prevalence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Isfahan province, eliminating the leishmaniasis vector and its reservoirs in this endemic area seems to be necessary. During the years, it has been showed that leishmaniasis is endemic in Isfahan province hence, a more extensive epidemiologic study is recommended.

Background Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is one of the health problems of many tropical and subtropical regions and is endemic in many parts of Iran especially. Cutaneous leishmaniasis not only is a health problem but also is a social and cultural problem in Iran. Education about health for high risk population seems to have a critical role in prevention of leishmaniasis and therefore evaluation of knowledge, attitude and performance are of importance. For the success of prevention and control programs of any disease, the most important prerequisite is community participation. Program implementers need to understand the disease-related knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of the community, because these are the important determinants of community participation. There are no data from Iran focusing on these aspects, and thus this study presents the information on KAP related to cutaneous leishmaniasis (C.L) in Iran. Methods In this study 166 mothers that had at least one child with CL were studied. Data collection was performed using questionnaires that were designed by epidemiologist and were analyzed using SPSS software. Results The mean of KAP score was 15.7 ± 1.6 (range of 11.5–19). 48 mothers (28.9%) had weak KAP, 79 mothers (47.6%) had average KAP and 39 mothers (23.5%) had excellent KAP. Conclusion According to our results, about 28.9% the mothers had inappropriate KAP score about leishmaniasis highlighting the fact that at least one third of the Isfahan population needs practical education about combating with leishamaniasis. To close the gap between the knowledge and practice of the mothers, face to face education and use of instructional aides are recommended.

Introduction:Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a parasitic disease which has different clinical forms. The aim of this study is to compare the response to leishmanin skin test (LST) in three forms of CL including plaque type, lupoid type, and sporotrichoid type.Materials and Methods:This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The patients enrolled in this study had three clinical forms of CL confirmed by positive smear of their lesions and then LST was performed for them. Results were categorized as negative (0-5 mm induration), positive (6-14 mm), and strongly positive (≥15 mm). The data were documented in the patients’ files and analyzed with SPSS windows software version 16 (Inc.Chicago, USA).Results:200 patients were enrolled in the study. In the group with plaque type, 86% had a positive LST, 13.3% were negative, and 0.7% were strongly positive. In the lupoid group, these figures were 45.8%, 8.4%, 45.8%, respectively. In the sporotrichoid group, LST was positive in 27.3%, negative in 72.7%, and none of the patients had a strongly positive reaction (P < 0.05). Discussion: The most of the positive LST were belong to plaque and lupoid groups, the most of strongly positive were belong to lupoid, and the most of negative LST were related with sporotrichoid type.Conclusion:It can be suggested that lupoid and sporotrichoid types of CL are parts of a continuous spectrum of the disease with an enhanced cellular immunity in lupoid form and a decreased state in sporotrichoid type.

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