Resumen de Clinical and epidemiological aspects of visceral leishmaniasis in children up to 15 years of age in Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil
Isabelle Ribeiro Barbosa, Íris do Céu
AIMS: To describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of children and adolescents with visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Brazil. METHODS: A descriptive study of individuals 0-15 years with a diagnosis of autochthonous cases of VL. We analyzed the information for the period from January 2007 to December 2011, contained in the Information System Diseases Notifications. RESULTS: We identified 291 children and adolescents with LV, 50.8% were male and the age group with the highest incidence of the disease was less than 5 years (72.5% of cases). It was found that 16.1% of these children lived in Natal and 40.9% were from 04 counties RN; 70.4% were from the urban area, 58.4% were brown and 2.7% were co-infected with HIV. The main clinical manifestation was fever (76.9%) and major clinical findings were pallor (68%), splenomegaly (67.7%) and hepatomegaly (63.9%). The treatment of choice was Glucantime (61%), conventional amphotericin B (1.44%), liposomal amphotericin B (5.77%); 15.1% of the patients developed infections. The average time between the occurrence of the first symptoms and the beginning of treatment was 32.5 days and 3.8% died. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the clinical and epidemiological characteristics identified in this study, we suggest a more effective monitoring by health professionals, aiming at early recognition and proper treatment of the disease and its complications.
