Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Feb 18:8:11.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00011. eCollection 2020.

The Geographical Distribution of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Causative Agents in Iran and Its Neighboring Countries, A Review

Mohammad Amin Ghatee  1   2 , Walter R Taylor  3   4 , Mehdi Karamian  5
Affiliations
Review

The Geographical Distribution of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Causative Agents in Iran and Its Neighboring Countries, A Review

Mohammad Amin Ghatee et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Leishmania tropica and Leishmania major are both the main cause of anthroponotic (ACL) and zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL), respectively, in the Old World. Leishmania infantum and Leishmania donovani, which are important causes of visceral leishmaniasis, have also occasionally been reported in CL patients. The present study investigates the current distribution of causative species of CL in Iran and neighboring countries in the Middle East. There has been expansion of L. tropica into new urban and rural foci in Iran, with well-documented cases of visceralization, a substantial increase of CL in Syria, and the emergence of new foci and outbreaks in Turkey and Iraq, especially due to L. major. Civil war in Syria and Iraq, population movement, poverty, and climatic change play important roles in the changing CL distribution in this region. Control programs should adopt a multidisciplinary approach based on active surveillance and case finding, especially in vulnerable refugee populations, determination of hazard maps for CL hot points using GIS and other advanced technology, the free distribution of drugs, rodent control, and greater community engagement in poor and marginalized populations. Comprehensive molecular studies that could show the species and strains of Leishmania in different areas of each country can give a better view from the distribution of CL in this region.

Keywords: Afghanistan; Iran; Iraq; Leishmania major; Leishmania tropica; Saudi Arabia; Syria; Turkey.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Province-based distribution of ACL and ZCL in Iran. ACL is confined to one or some counties in each province that was not shown here. The maps were generated based on the shape file layers of provinces of Iran and neighboring countries obtained from the DIVA-GIS website (http://www.diva-gis.org/gdata) by using ArcGIS version 10.1 (http://www.esri.com/arcgis).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of CL types in Turkey.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of CL types in Saudi Arabia.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of CL types in Iraq.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Distribution of CL types in Pakistan. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was assumed the areas under N.W.F.P and F.A.T.A regions.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Distribution of CL types in Afghanistan.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Distribution of CL types in the part of Middle East including Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in a view.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zijlstra EE. isceral leishmaniasis: a forgotten epidemic. Arch Dis Child. (2016) 101:561–7. 10.1136/archdischild-2015-309302 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Burza S, Croft SL, Boelaert M. Leishmaniasis. Lancet. (2018) 392:951–70. 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31204-2 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gramiccia M, Gradoni L. The current status of zoonotic leishmaniases and approaches to disease control. Int J Parasitol. (2005) 35:1169–80. 10.1016/j.ijpara.2005.07.001 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Akhavan AA, Yaghoobi-Ershadi MR, Khamesipour A, Mirhendi H, Alimohammadian MH, Rassi Y, et al. . Dynamics of Leishmania infection rates in Rhombomys opimus (Rodentia: Gerbillinae) population of an endemic focus of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran. Bull Soc Pathol Exot. (2010) 103:84–9. 10.1007/s13149-010-0044-1 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dereure J, Rioux JA, Gallego M, Perieres J, Pratlong F, Mahjour J, et al. . Leishmania tropica in Morocco: infection in dogs. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. (1991) 85:595. 10.1016/0035-9203(91)90356-4 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources