demographic characteristics besides clinical and laboratory manifestations of children with visceral leishmaniasis in rasht, northern iran

Background: visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) is an inherently dangerous and progressive disease that can be seen in many parts of the world, including iran. therefore, we decided to conduct this study on children with kala-azar in rasht-iran.methods: in this descriptive study, the hospital records of all children with kala-azar disease admitted to 17 shahrivar hospital, rasht- iran from 2009 to 2021 were reviewed. required information were collected from patients' records and descriptive statistical analysis was done using spss version 24 statistical software.results: a total of 22 children with visceral leishmaniasis were admitted to 17 shahrivar hospital during the study period. the average age of the children was 2.93 ± 3.32 years. most of them (59.1%) were boys and lived in the foothills (59.1%). the most common season for children to get the disease was spring (45.5%), and the average duration of the disease until hospitalization was 16.5 ± 13.54 days. in this study, the most common clinical manifestations included fever (90.9%), splenomegaly (77.3%), hepatomegaly (50%), weakness and restlessness (27.3%), and vomiting (18.2%). the most common laboratory findings were anemia (90.9%), leukopenia (59.1%), increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate (esr) (75%), and increased c-reactive protein (crp) (75%). 72.7% of the children were treated with liposomal amphotericin and others with glucantime, which were all successful.conclusion: the results of our studies were consistent with most studies in iran and other countries. these findings can help in the diagnosis and management of children with kala-azar and better control of the disease in the province.