A Sero-Epidemiological Study on Visceral Leishmaniasis among Volunteer Children and Adults in Rural Areas of Shahroud, Iran 2018–2019
-
Sajjad Ghodrati
,
Behnaz Akhoundi
,
Mehdi Mohebali
,
Mohammad Zeinali
,
Homa Hajjaran
,
Zahra Kakooei
Abstract
Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) also known as Kala-azar is considered as one of the zoonotic infections in Mediterranean countries. The reservoir of this infection is dogs and sand flies are considered as its vectors. Due to reported sporadic cases of Kala-azar in the past five years in Shahroud County, Semnan Province, Iran, this study aimed to investigate the status of this infection in this area and to determine its seroepidemiology to take required measurements for infection control and treatment.
Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 504 subjects residing in seven villages in Shahroud County, Semnan, Iran. Samples were randomly selected using the cluster sampling method and blood samples were collected from subjects aged up to 13 years old (90%) and adults over 13 years old (10%) from September 2018 to May 2019. After separating sera from whole blood, samples were subjected to direct agglutination test (DAT) to detect anti-Leishmania infantum antibodies. First dilutions were prepared from 1:10 to 1:800 for human samples.
Results: Results of serological testing with 1:800 titration indicated that no sample was positive for antibody against Leishmania infantum. After secondary screening, 10 cases (1.98%) showed the antibody titer of 1:100, while four cases (0.79%) showed the antibody titer of 1:400. According to clinical findings, no patient was suffering from fever, weight loss, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, and cachexia and therefore did not show the symptoms of Kala-azar.
Conclusion: The results of the current study indicate that Kala-azar is not prevalent in Shahroud County.
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2. Murray HW, Berman JD, Davies CR, Saravia NG (2005) Advances in leishmaniasis. The Lancet. 366(9496): 1561–1577.
3. Burza S, Croft SL, Boelaert M (2018) Leishmaniasis. The Lancet. 392(10151): 951–970.
4. van Griensven J, Diro E (2012) Visceral leishmaniasis. Infect Dis Clin. 26(2): 309–322.
5. Harhay MO, Olliaro PL, Costa DL, Costa CHN (2011) Urban parasitology: visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil. Trends Parasitol. 27(9): 403–409.
6. Singh OP, Hasker E, Boelaert M, Sundar S (2016) Elimination of visceral leishma-niasis on the Indian subcontinent. Lan-cet Infect Dis. 16(12): 304–309.
7. Jarvis JN, Lockwood DN (2013) Clinical aspects of visceral leishmaniasis in HIV infection. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 26(1): 1–9.
8. Copeland NK, Aronson NE (2015) Leishma-niasis: treatment updates and clinical prac-tice guidelines review. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 28(5): 426–437.
9. Srividya G, Kulshrestha A, Singh R, Sa-lotra P (2012) Diagnosis of visceral leish-maniasis: developments over the last de-cade. Parasitol Res. 110(3): 1065–1078.
10. Savoia D (2015) Recent updates and pers-pectives on leishmaniasis. J Inect Dev Countr. 9(06): 588–596.
11. Quinnell RJ, Courtenay O (2009) Trans-mission, reservoir hosts and control of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis. Parasi-tology. 136(14): 1915–1934.
12. Mohebali M, Javadian E, Yaghoobi-Ershadi MR, Akhavan AA, Hajjaran H, Abai MR (2004) Characterization of Leishmania infection in rodents from endemic areas of the Islamic Republic of Iran. East Mediterr Health J. 10(4-5): 591–599.
13. Oshaghi MA, Ravasan NM, Hide M, Java-dian EA, Rassi Y, Sedaghat MM, Moheb-ali M, Hajjaran H (2009) Development of species-specific PCR and PCR-res-triction fragment length polymorphism assays for L. infantum/L. donovani dis-crimination. Exp Parasitol. 122(1): 61–65.
14. Oshaghi MA, Maleki-Ravasan N, Hide M, Javadian EA, Rassi Y, Sadraei J, Mo-hebali M, Sedaghat MM, Hajjaran H, Zarei Z, Mohtarami F (2009) Phlebotomus perfiliewi transcaucasicus is circulating both Leishmania donovani and L. in-fantum in northwest Iran. Exp Parasitol. 123(3): 218–225.
15. Mohebali M (2013) Visceral leishmaniasis in Iran: review of the epidemiological and clinical features. Iranian J Parasitol. 8(3): 348–358.
16. Yaghoobi-Ershadi MR (2012) Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Iran and their Role on Leishmania Trans-mission. J Arthropod Borne Dis. 6(1): 1–17.
17. Naghian A, Oshaghi MA, Moein-Vaziri V, Rassi Y, Sedaghat MM, Mostafavi E, Veysi A, Soleimani H, Dehghan H, Zahraei-Ramazani A, Mirhendi H, Amini MH, Yaghoobi-Ershadi MR, Akhavan AA (2020) Molecular Identification of Leish-mania Species in Phlebotomus alexandri (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Western Iran. J Arthropod Borne Dis. 14(1): 8–16.
18. Parvizi P, Alaeenovin E, Mohammadi S, Baghban N (2013) Occurrence of low density of Leishmania infantum in sand-flies from a new focus of visceral leish-maniasis in northwest of Iran. J Vector Borne Dis. 50(2): 127–132.
19. Oshaghi MA, Rassi Y, Hazratian T, Fallah E, Rafizadeh S (2013) Natural infection of wild caught Phlebotomus tobbi to Leishmania infantum in East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran. J Vector Borne Dis. 50(1): 24–29.
20. Rassi Y, Abai MR, Oshaghi MA, Javadian E, Sanei A, Rafidzadeh S, Arzamani K (2012) First detection of Leishmania in-fantum in Phlebotomus kandelakii using molecular methods in north-eastern Is-lamic Republic of Iran. East Mediterr Health J. 18(4): 387–392.
21. Oshaghi MA, Ravasan NM, Hide M, Ja-vadian E, Rassi Y, Sadraei J, Mohebali M, Sedaghat MM, Hajjaran H, Zarei Z, Mohtarami F (2009) Phlebotomus perfi-liewi transcaucasicus is circulating both Leishmania donovani and L. infantum in northwest Iran. Exp Parasitol. 123(3): 218–225.
22. el Harith A, Slappendel R, Reiter I, Van Knapen F, De Korte P, Huigen E, Kolk AH (1989) Application of a direct agglu-tination test for detection of specific an-ti-Leishmania antibodies in the canine reservoir. J Clin Microbiol. 27(10): 2252–2257.
23. Farahani LZ, Mohebali M, Akhoundi B, Saghafipour A, Kakooei Z (2019) Sero-epidemiological study on visceral leish-maniasis in an endemic focus of central Iran during 2017. J Parasit Dis. 43(1): 22–27.
24. Rassi Y, Oshaghi MA, Azani SM, Abai MR, Rafizadeh S, Mohebali M, Mohta-rami F, Zeinali MK (2011) Molecular detection of Leishmania infection due to Leishmania major and Leishmania tura-nica in the vectors and reservoir host in Iran. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 11(2): 145–150.
25. Abai MA, Rassi Y, Imamian H, Fateh M, Mohebali M, Rafizadeh S, Hajjaran H, Azizi K, Ismaiili M (2007) PCR based on identification of vectors of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Shahrood District, central of Iran. Pak J Biol Sci. 10(12): 2061–2065.
26. Chappuis F, Sundar S, Hailu A, Ghalib H, Rijal S, Peeling RW, Alvar J, Boelaert M (2007) Visceral leishmaniasis: what are the needs for diagnosis, treatment and control?. Nat Rev Microbiol. 5(11): 873–882.
27. Zijlstra E, Ali MS, El-Hassan A, El-Toum IA, Satti M, Ghalib H, Kager PA (1991) Direct agglutination test for diagnosis and sero-epidemiological survey of kala-azar in the Sudan. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 85(4): 474–476.
28. Mahami M, Mohebali M, Keshavarz H, Hajaran H, Akhoundi B, Zarei Z, Chare-dar S (2006) A seroepidemiological sur-vey of visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar) in Germi District, Ardabil Province. J Sch Pub H Inst Pub Res. 4(1): 45–55 (in Persian)
29. Fakhar M, Rahmati B, Gohardehi S, Mo-hebali M, Akhoundi B, Sharif M, Mah-davi SA (2011) Molecular and seroepi-demiological survey of visceral leishma-niasis among humans and domestic dogs in Mazandaran Province, North of Iran. Iran J Parasitol. 6(4): 51–59.
30. Masoori L, Moin-Vaziri V, Kheirandish F, Akhoundi B, Haghighi A, Gach-kar L, Abadi A, Chegeni Sharafi A, Mohebali M (2015) Sero-prevalence study of visceral leishmaniasis using direct agglutination test (DAT) in children up to 12 years old in Delphan City, Lorestan Province: intro-duce a new focus of VL in Iran. Tabriz Uni Med Sci. 36(6): 68–73. (in Persian)
31. Gani ZH, Hassan MK, Jassim A (2010) Sero-epidemiological study of visceral leishmaniasis in Basrah, southern Iraq. J Pak Med Assoc. 60(6): 464–469.
32. Heidari AE, Mohebali M, Kabir K, Barati H, Soultani Y, Keshavarz H, Akhoundi B, Hajjaran H, Reisi H (2015) Visceral leishmaniasis in rural areas of Alborz Province of Iran and implication to health policy. Korean J Parasitol. 53(4): 379–383.
33. Layegh Gigloo A, Sarkari B, Rezaei Z, Hatam GR, Davami MH (2018) Asympto-matic Leishmania infected children: A seroprevalence and molecular survey in a rural area of Fars Province, southern Iran. J Trop Med. 2018(8167247): 1–6.
2. Murray HW, Berman JD, Davies CR, Saravia NG (2005) Advances in leishmaniasis. The Lancet. 366(9496): 1561–1577.
3. Burza S, Croft SL, Boelaert M (2018) Leishmaniasis. The Lancet. 392(10151): 951–970.
4. van Griensven J, Diro E (2012) Visceral leishmaniasis. Infect Dis Clin. 26(2): 309–322.
5. Harhay MO, Olliaro PL, Costa DL, Costa CHN (2011) Urban parasitology: visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil. Trends Parasitol. 27(9): 403–409.
6. Singh OP, Hasker E, Boelaert M, Sundar S (2016) Elimination of visceral leishma-niasis on the Indian subcontinent. Lan-cet Infect Dis. 16(12): 304–309.
7. Jarvis JN, Lockwood DN (2013) Clinical aspects of visceral leishmaniasis in HIV infection. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 26(1): 1–9.
8. Copeland NK, Aronson NE (2015) Leishma-niasis: treatment updates and clinical prac-tice guidelines review. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 28(5): 426–437.
9. Srividya G, Kulshrestha A, Singh R, Sa-lotra P (2012) Diagnosis of visceral leish-maniasis: developments over the last de-cade. Parasitol Res. 110(3): 1065–1078.
10. Savoia D (2015) Recent updates and pers-pectives on leishmaniasis. J Inect Dev Countr. 9(06): 588–596.
11. Quinnell RJ, Courtenay O (2009) Trans-mission, reservoir hosts and control of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis. Parasi-tology. 136(14): 1915–1934.
12. Mohebali M, Javadian E, Yaghoobi-Ershadi MR, Akhavan AA, Hajjaran H, Abai MR (2004) Characterization of Leishmania infection in rodents from endemic areas of the Islamic Republic of Iran. East Mediterr Health J. 10(4-5): 591–599.
13. Oshaghi MA, Ravasan NM, Hide M, Java-dian EA, Rassi Y, Sedaghat MM, Moheb-ali M, Hajjaran H (2009) Development of species-specific PCR and PCR-res-triction fragment length polymorphism assays for L. infantum/L. donovani dis-crimination. Exp Parasitol. 122(1): 61–65.
14. Oshaghi MA, Maleki-Ravasan N, Hide M, Javadian EA, Rassi Y, Sadraei J, Mo-hebali M, Sedaghat MM, Hajjaran H, Zarei Z, Mohtarami F (2009) Phlebotomus perfiliewi transcaucasicus is circulating both Leishmania donovani and L. in-fantum in northwest Iran. Exp Parasitol. 123(3): 218–225.
15. Mohebali M (2013) Visceral leishmaniasis in Iran: review of the epidemiological and clinical features. Iranian J Parasitol. 8(3): 348–358.
16. Yaghoobi-Ershadi MR (2012) Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Iran and their Role on Leishmania Trans-mission. J Arthropod Borne Dis. 6(1): 1–17.
17. Naghian A, Oshaghi MA, Moein-Vaziri V, Rassi Y, Sedaghat MM, Mostafavi E, Veysi A, Soleimani H, Dehghan H, Zahraei-Ramazani A, Mirhendi H, Amini MH, Yaghoobi-Ershadi MR, Akhavan AA (2020) Molecular Identification of Leish-mania Species in Phlebotomus alexandri (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Western Iran. J Arthropod Borne Dis. 14(1): 8–16.
18. Parvizi P, Alaeenovin E, Mohammadi S, Baghban N (2013) Occurrence of low density of Leishmania infantum in sand-flies from a new focus of visceral leish-maniasis in northwest of Iran. J Vector Borne Dis. 50(2): 127–132.
19. Oshaghi MA, Rassi Y, Hazratian T, Fallah E, Rafizadeh S (2013) Natural infection of wild caught Phlebotomus tobbi to Leishmania infantum in East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran. J Vector Borne Dis. 50(1): 24–29.
20. Rassi Y, Abai MR, Oshaghi MA, Javadian E, Sanei A, Rafidzadeh S, Arzamani K (2012) First detection of Leishmania in-fantum in Phlebotomus kandelakii using molecular methods in north-eastern Is-lamic Republic of Iran. East Mediterr Health J. 18(4): 387–392.
21. Oshaghi MA, Ravasan NM, Hide M, Ja-vadian E, Rassi Y, Sadraei J, Mohebali M, Sedaghat MM, Hajjaran H, Zarei Z, Mohtarami F (2009) Phlebotomus perfi-liewi transcaucasicus is circulating both Leishmania donovani and L. infantum in northwest Iran. Exp Parasitol. 123(3): 218–225.
22. el Harith A, Slappendel R, Reiter I, Van Knapen F, De Korte P, Huigen E, Kolk AH (1989) Application of a direct agglu-tination test for detection of specific an-ti-Leishmania antibodies in the canine reservoir. J Clin Microbiol. 27(10): 2252–2257.
23. Farahani LZ, Mohebali M, Akhoundi B, Saghafipour A, Kakooei Z (2019) Sero-epidemiological study on visceral leish-maniasis in an endemic focus of central Iran during 2017. J Parasit Dis. 43(1): 22–27.
24. Rassi Y, Oshaghi MA, Azani SM, Abai MR, Rafizadeh S, Mohebali M, Mohta-rami F, Zeinali MK (2011) Molecular detection of Leishmania infection due to Leishmania major and Leishmania tura-nica in the vectors and reservoir host in Iran. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 11(2): 145–150.
25. Abai MA, Rassi Y, Imamian H, Fateh M, Mohebali M, Rafizadeh S, Hajjaran H, Azizi K, Ismaiili M (2007) PCR based on identification of vectors of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Shahrood District, central of Iran. Pak J Biol Sci. 10(12): 2061–2065.
26. Chappuis F, Sundar S, Hailu A, Ghalib H, Rijal S, Peeling RW, Alvar J, Boelaert M (2007) Visceral leishmaniasis: what are the needs for diagnosis, treatment and control?. Nat Rev Microbiol. 5(11): 873–882.
27. Zijlstra E, Ali MS, El-Hassan A, El-Toum IA, Satti M, Ghalib H, Kager PA (1991) Direct agglutination test for diagnosis and sero-epidemiological survey of kala-azar in the Sudan. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 85(4): 474–476.
28. Mahami M, Mohebali M, Keshavarz H, Hajaran H, Akhoundi B, Zarei Z, Chare-dar S (2006) A seroepidemiological sur-vey of visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar) in Germi District, Ardabil Province. J Sch Pub H Inst Pub Res. 4(1): 45–55 (in Persian)
29. Fakhar M, Rahmati B, Gohardehi S, Mo-hebali M, Akhoundi B, Sharif M, Mah-davi SA (2011) Molecular and seroepi-demiological survey of visceral leishma-niasis among humans and domestic dogs in Mazandaran Province, North of Iran. Iran J Parasitol. 6(4): 51–59.
30. Masoori L, Moin-Vaziri V, Kheirandish F, Akhoundi B, Haghighi A, Gach-kar L, Abadi A, Chegeni Sharafi A, Mohebali M (2015) Sero-prevalence study of visceral leishmaniasis using direct agglutination test (DAT) in children up to 12 years old in Delphan City, Lorestan Province: intro-duce a new focus of VL in Iran. Tabriz Uni Med Sci. 36(6): 68–73. (in Persian)
31. Gani ZH, Hassan MK, Jassim A (2010) Sero-epidemiological study of visceral leishmaniasis in Basrah, southern Iraq. J Pak Med Assoc. 60(6): 464–469.
32. Heidari AE, Mohebali M, Kabir K, Barati H, Soultani Y, Keshavarz H, Akhoundi B, Hajjaran H, Reisi H (2015) Visceral leishmaniasis in rural areas of Alborz Province of Iran and implication to health policy. Korean J Parasitol. 53(4): 379–383.
33. Layegh Gigloo A, Sarkari B, Rezaei Z, Hatam GR, Davami MH (2018) Asympto-matic Leishmania infected children: A seroprevalence and molecular survey in a rural area of Fars Province, southern Iran. J Trop Med. 2018(8167247): 1–6.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 16 No 3 (2022) | |
| Section | Original Article | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/jad.v16i3.12038 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Visceral leishmaniasis; Seroepidemiology; Direct agglutination test; Human; Iran | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Ghodrati S, Akhoundi B, Mohebali M, Zeinali M, Hajjaran H, Kakooei Z. A Sero-Epidemiological Study on Visceral Leishmaniasis among Volunteer Children and Adults in Rural Areas of Shahroud, Iran 2018–2019. J Arthropod Borne Dis. 2023;16(3):217–224.
