Clinico-epidemiological features of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Mazandaran Province, northern Iran

Abstract Introduction Iran is considered as one of the most important endemic foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) worldwide. Recently, sporadic cases of CL have been reported in some parts of Mazandaran Province, northern Iran. This study aims to determine the clinical and epidemiological aspects of CL, for the first time, in this area. Methods All CL cases registered during 2009–2016 were entered into this descriptive study. Required data was collected from the portal of surveillance system in excel format and entered into SPSS Version 16 software and described as percent frequency, mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum. The analysis was performed using Chi square and independent T tests. Results During 2009–2016, 343 subjects were entered into the study. Among investigated patients, 72.6% were male and 87.8% had history of travelling. Mean age of patients was 30.7 years and 21.6% of whom were reported in November while 18.4% were identified in October. The lesions were found in upper limb (39.7%), lower limb (25.7%) and face (6.4%). Of them, 37.3% had one lesion and 22.4% had two lesions. There were no significant difference in the mean age of men and women (p = 0.648) as well as number of lesions in both genders (p = 0.190). Conclusion Our results showed that the most CL cases in the studied area were aged 15–44 most of which had history of recent travelling to endemic areas. According to this study, Mazandaran is not considered as a CL endemic focus and most identified cases were affected following travel to the known endemic Iranian foci of CL.