EXPANSION OF VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS IN THE STATE OF RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL: REPORT OF THE FIRST AUTOCHTHONOUS CASE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF VOLTA REDONDA AND THE DIFFICULTY OF DIAGNOSIS

Visceral Leishmaniasis has been showing remarkable epidemiological changes in recent decades, with marked expansion and an emergence of cases in urban areas of the North, Southeast and Midwest regions of Brazil. The Kala-azar cases reported here, despite being very characteristic, presented a great...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
Main Authors: Luiz Henrique Conde Sangenis, Sebastião Roberto de Almeida Lima, Cíntia Xavier de Mello, Daniela Trindade Cardoso, Jurema Nunes Mello, Maria Cristina Carvalho do Espírito Santo, Walter Tavares
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 2014
Subjects:
Visceral Leishmaniasis
Kala-azar
Epidemiology
Rio de Janeiro
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Infectious and parasitic diseases
RC109-216
Arctic
Azar
Redonda
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/S0036-46652014000300015
https://doaj.org/article/22c8b6ba621445438f34640b481aeda6
Description
Summary:Visceral Leishmaniasis has been showing remarkable epidemiological changes in recent decades, with marked expansion and an emergence of cases in urban areas of the North, Southeast and Midwest regions of Brazil. The Kala-azar cases reported here, despite being very characteristic, presented a great difficulty of diagnosis, because the disease is not endemic in Volta Redonda. The child underwent two hospitalizations in different hospitals, but got the correct diagnosis only after 11 months of symptom onset. In this report we discuss the main differential diagnoses and call attention to the suspected symptoms of visceral leishmaniasis in patients with prolonged fever, hepatosplenomegaly and pancytopenia, even in areas not traditionally endemic for the disease.

Similar Items