Prevalence of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Western Highlands in Yemen

Mohammed Musid Alkulaibi; Ahmed Mohamed Suleiman; Eltahir Awad Gasim Khalil; Maged Ahmed Al-Garadi

doi:10.1155/2019/8248916

Prevalence of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Western Highlands in Yemen

J Trop Med. 2019 Feb 28:2019:8248916. doi: 10.1155/2019/8248916. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Mohammed Musid Alkulaibi^{1

2}, Ahmed Mohamed Suleiman¹, Eltahir Awad Gasim Khalil³, Maged Ahmed Al-Garadi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
² Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Sana'a University, Sana'a, Yemen.
³ Department of Clinical Pathology & Immunology Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
⁴ Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Thamar University, Dhamar, Yemen.

Abstract

Leishmaniasis in Yemen is still not fully investigated nor well studied. Recently, outbreaks of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in western highland were declared. However, there are no reports concerning the disease and the circulating species in the region. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Utmah district located in Western Highlands in Yemen. A cross-sectional survey was carried out at those highlands. For the survey, 1165 participants were subjected to Leishmanin Skin Test (LST) accompanied with direct interviews and physical examination. The overall prevalence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the district was 18.5% and the cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) was more frequent in the escarpments with a prevalence of 37%, including 5.5% for active lesion and 31.5% for scar of healed lesions. Children under the age of 16 years old comprised most of the CL cases (76.3%). The escarpments of western highlands in Yemen were hyperendemic areas for CL and the infection was more prevalent in children.