Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Zliten, a New Focus in North West of Libya

Aims: This study was done to evaluate the epidemiological aspects of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in the patients who were presented to dermatology clinic of main referral hospital in Zliten, and to discover its distribution in relation to age, sex, season, and residency.

Study Design: In this case series study. The data of Studied patients were recorded and analysed to discover the incidence of CL, as well as the distribution of CL according to age, sex, residency, season, and affected body sites.

Place and Duration of Study: All patients with CL, who were referred or presented to dermatology outpatient clinic of Zliten Teaching Hospital, were enrolled. The majority of patients came from Zliten and its Suburban and the minority from neighboring cities. The study was conducted over more than a six-year period from November 2010 till December 2016.

Methodology: All referred or presented patients with suspected CL, were examined clinically, and slit skin smear and / or Skin biopsy for microscopic confirmation were performed whenever the diagnosis was suspicious. The information about age, gender, address of patient, date of presentation, and site of lesions on the body were collected and analysed with use of statistical Microsoft SPSS 20.

Results: Out of all referred patients, 420 patients were found to have CL. Males were 311(represented 74%) and females were 109 (represented 26%) with male to female ratio 3:1. The ages of patients ranged from 2 years to 80 years, and most of the infections occured in the age group 20-29 years, which were 118 patient (28.1%). Annual incidence was increased markedly in 2016, and the disease was mainly observed in the winter.

Conclusion: Our study showed marked increase of reported cases of CL in 2016 especially in East area of Zliten compared to previous years. Therefore, further studies are required to recognize the vector, parasite species and the animal reservoir, which would enable national and local health authorities to put effective control programs.