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Epidemiology of visceral leishmaniasis among children in Gadarif hospital, eastern Sudan

Authors :
Gamal K. Adam
Ahmed A. Ahmed
AbdelAziem A. Ali
Saeed M. Omar
Mohammed Ahmed A. Ahmed
Tajeldin M. Abdallah
Source :
BMC Public Health, Vol 16, Iss 1, Pp 1-4 (2016), BMC Public Health
Publisher :
Springer Nature

Abstract

Background Since 1900s, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has been among the most important health problems in Sudan, particularly in the endemic areas such as eastern and central regions. Methods This was a cross sectional, hospital-based study conducted from 1st January 2015 to 31st December 2015 to investigate the epidemiological factors of VL in Gadarif hospital, eastern Sudan. Results During the study period there were 47 identified children with VL among 145 suspected cases. The most common clinical presentations were fever (47, 100%), pallor (47, 100%), weight loss (40, 85.1%), splenomegaly (37, 78.7%), lymphadenopathy (33, 70.2%), vomiting (32, 68%) cough (28, 59%), loss of appetite (22, 46.8%), diarrhoea (17, 36.1%) and jaundice (5, 10.6%). With regard to the outcome after short term follow up 37 patients (78.8%) improved without complications, while 3 (6.4%, 2 (4.3%), 2 (4.3%), 1 (2.1%), 1 (2.1%) and 1 (2.1%) developed pneumonia, otitis media, septicaemia, urinary tract infection, parasitic infestation and PKDL respectively. Lower mean of haemoglobin level was observed among the VL cases in comparison with the suspected cases (in whom VL was excluded) haemoglobin level {8.9 (3.1) Vs 11 (6.3), P = 0.021}. Again more proportion of anaemic (47 (100%) Vs 14 (14.2%), P = 0.000) and severely anaemic (23 (48.9%) Vs 2 (2%), P = 0.006) patients was detected among the infected children. Using logistic regression analyses there was significant association between rural residence (CI = 1.5–24, OR = 19.1, P = 0.023), male gender (CI = 6.6–18.7, OR = 6.4, P = 0.001) and VL among children. Conclusions While there is an advance in prevention and management of visceral leishmaniasis our results indicate that VL is still a public health problem with its severe complications among children in eastern Sudan.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
14712458
Volume :
16
Issue :
1
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
BMC Public Health
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....eeb50c27d81a4ba3f36b0d08811ce00a
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3875-2