Title
Risk factors for cutaneous leishmaniasis in a high-altitude forest region of Peru
Date Issued
01 December 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
BioMed Central Ltd
Abstract
Background: American cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected tropical disease typically associated with men working in remote, sylvatic environments. We sought to identify CL risk factors in a highly deforested region where anecdotal reports suggested an atypical proportion of women and children were infected with CL raising concern among authorities that transmission was shifting towards domestic spaces and population centers. Methods: We describe the characteristics of CL patients from four participating clinics after digitizing up to 10 years of patient data from each clinic’s CL registries. We assessed risk factors of CL associated with intradomestic, peridomestic, or non-domestic transmission through a matched case-control study with 63 patients who had visited these same clinics for CL (cases) or other medical reasons (controls) between January 2014 and August 2016. The study consisted of an in-home interview of participants by a trained field worker using a standard questionnaire. Risk factors were identified using bivariable and multivariable conditional logistic regression. Results: Between 2007 and 2016, a total of 529 confirmed CL positives were recorded in the available CL registries. Children and working aged women made up 58.6% of the cases. Our final model suggests that the odds of sleeping in or very near an agricultural field were five times greater in cases than controls (p = 0.025). Survey data indicate that women, children, and men have similar propensities to both visit and sleep in or near agricultural fields. Conclusions: Women and children may be underappreciated as CL risk groups in agriculturally dependent regions. Despite the age-sex breakdown of clinical CL patients and high rates of deforestation occurring in the study area, transmission is mostly occurring outside of the largest population centers. Curbing transmission in non-domestic spaces may be limited to decreasing exposure to sandflies during the evening, nighttime, and early morning hours. Our paper serves as a cautionary tale for those relying solely on the demographic information obtained from clinic-based data to understand basic epidemiological trends of vector-borne infections.
Volume
49
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Dermatología, Enfermedades venéreas Parasitología Forestal
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85106044291
Source
Tropical Medicine and Health
ISSN of the container
13488945
Sponsor(s)
Funding for this project was provided by the Duke University Bass Connections Program, Duke University Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Doris Duke Fellows Program, as well as the Inter-America’s Institute Grant CRN3034. WP was supported by a NASA grant NNX15AP74G.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus