Clinical and hematological presentation of visceral leishmaniasis in children in a tertiary care hospital

Objectives: to evaluate the clinical and hematological features of visceral leishmaniasis (vl) in children. material and methods: it was a retrospective study,carried out at pediatrics department,khyber teaching hospital,peshawar. all the children admitted with splenomegaly,from january 2007 to december 2007 were evaluated clinically,with peripheral blood examination and bone marrow aspiration and trephine biopsy. results: sixty-two children with splenomegaly,vl was seen in 13 (21%) cases with a mean age of 3.2 years. hepato-splenomegaly and pallor was seen in all 13 cases,followed by abdominal distension (84%),fever and weight loss (46%) and jaundice was seen in 23% cases. bicytopenia was seen in 77% cases and pancytopenia i.e. anemia,leucopenia and thrombocytopenia was seen in 23% cases. conclusion: childhood vl is not uncommon in peshawar,and presents with pallor,splenomegaly,fever and cytopenias.