Risk factors for Kala-azar in Wasit province – IraqA case control study

Abstract

Background: VisceralLeishmaniasis is a serious parasitic disease; it is highly endemic in developing counters including Iraq. Objective: To identify some possible risk factors for Visceral Leishmaniasis among a sample of infected Children in Wasit Province.Patients and Methods: This is a hospital based case-control study that included 120 children (40 cases and 80 controls) admitted to three main hospitals in Wasit Province (Al-Swairra, Al-Aazizya & Al-Zahraa) during the period from first of February 2014through the end of April 2014. The diagnosis was based on clinical presentation and serological test. All Cases and control were interviewed through structural questioner which included (socio-demographic, sleeping characteristics, house characteristics) and other environmental related factors.Results: The risk factors in this study are the following: Presence of rodents in houses of patients is an important risk factor associated with Kalazar OR= 7.071 (95%CI= 2.79-17.926). The study showed that sleeping near animals was an important predictor for Kala azar and significantly associated with this disease OR= 6.176 (95%CI= 2.681-14.231). Another risk factor that associated significantly with this disease was the presence of insects in the houses of patients OR= 5.697 (95%CI= 2.331-13.922) and the presence of dogs near housesOR= 3.116 (95%CI= 1.316-7.380], another risk factor was found such as sleeping on ground OR=2.935 (95%CI= 1.332-6.469) while sleeping on first floor and using bed nets were found to be protective factors OR= 0.324 (95%CI= 0.089-1.187) OR=0.234 (95%CI= 0.101-0.544)respectively.The signs and symptoms of cases were fever reported in all patients (100%) while anemia in (75.0%), splenomegaly in (57.5%) and hepatomegaly in (45.0%).