DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2013.v01i06.0081

Pages: 1021-1025

Leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease caused by the intracellular parasite since long time ago. The most common form is cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), which causes skin sores. Dermal scrapings were analysed both by examination of Giemsa-stained smears and in vitro cultivation methods on NNN and RPMI 1640 media. The present study was conducted from January to May 2013 in Al-Karamah Teaching Hospital in Wasit Province, Iraq. Skin biopsies of 5 to 10 mm in diameter were taken under sterile conditions from the border of the ulcer and divided into three parts, The first part of the sample was smeared onto a glass slide, fixed with methanol, stained with Giemsa and examined by microscopy. A second and third part was inoculated on Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle (NNN) and Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI 1640) media. The cultures were incubated at 25 °C and observed every week for 1 month. A total of 92 suspected individuals of CL were referred for diagnosis, out of whom 97.8 % proved to be positive by direct Giemsa-stained smear diagnosis, 84.8% by culture on NNN medium and 76.1% by cultivation on RPMI 1640 medium. These were mainly in age group 11-20 years old (48.9%), more in males (56.5%) than females (43.5%). There was no significant differences between gender. The present study recorded that median duration of lesions was under 2 month ( 50 %). Results of our study showed that high number of ulcers (43.5 %) were in face and fifty patients (54.3 %) presented with single lesion. Also the most cases (67.4 %) were appeared in rural areas.