Rahou chaima
Khaldi nafissa, Khelfi sara, Kacimi imane,Benmaddah samia
Introduction :
Visceral leishmaniasis(LV) is an endemic condition wihin the Mediterranean region that includes Algeria. LV is a zoonotic infection caused by a protozoan genus Leishmania (mainly L.infuntum in Algeria) and is transmitted to humans by vector insects(phlebotomine sand flies).
Objectives :
The aim of our retrospective study is to reveal the epidemiological features of visceral leishmaniasis in children and show the importance of biological diagnostic in the identification of this disease covering 5 years from January 2019 to march 2025.
Patients and methods :
Our study spanned 5 years where data was collected from four patients hospitalized in the pediatric departement. Between 12 cases reported 4 were positive ; all of them came from a rural regions, where the higher peak is remarkable in winter 57%, following by 28% in autumn and 14% in summer
We also observe that most of the cases were females with 75%.and the age range is between 5 months to 5 years, with a very variable clinical condition such as fever, anemia, splenomegaly, mucocutaneous pallor.
The diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis was confirmed by the identification of the parasite in the bone marrow for 3 patients, and only 1 when the diagnosis was difficult a PCR test was preformed. All patients were treated with courses of gluncantim. The outcome was positive and the patients were cured.
Conclusion :
Visceral leishmaniasis represents a public health problem in Algeria, and it still remains a worrying pathology, hence, its prevention requires effective measures to reduce the incidence of this disease.