Purpose

Sri Lanka is endemic to cutaneous leishmaniasis and reported as the latest focus of leishmaniasis in the Asian subcontinent. Annually, the number of leishmaniasis cases is increasing; therefore, more efficient diagnostic tools, treatment methods and effective prevention measures are indispensable. For this reason, many studies were conducted regarding leishmaniasis infections in Sri Lanka; however, some areas need more attention. Thus, in this review, we comprehensively discussed the studies on leishmaniasis carried out in Sri Lanka.

Methods

Published articles on leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka were searched on PubMed, Google Scholar and ResearchGate databases. Inclusion criteria for the articles were based on keyword searches including ‘Leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka’, ‘Leishmaniasis vector in Sri Lanka’, ‘Sandfly species in Sri Lanka’, ‘Leishmaniasis epidemiology in Sri Lanka’ which are publicly accessible as of 15th July 2019.

Results

In this study, we evaluated and summarized the leishmaniasis reports in Sri Lanka and mainly focused on clinical presentation of leishmaniasis infection, genetic characteristics of Leishmania donovani Sri Lankan strain, geographical distribution and associated environmental factors, immunological aspects of the infection, vector, reservoir host, risk factors, diagnosis and treatment, and prevention and control. Furthermore, we identified the areas where further research is needed to fill the essential knowledge gaps.

Conclusions

Leishmaniasis has become a critically important parasitic infection in Sri Lanka, whereas the significant clinical form is cutaneous leishmaniasis. Prevalence of the leishmaniasis infections is reported from all the districts of the country. Therefore, more studies are essential to be carried out to fill the existing knowledge gaps emphasized in this review.

中文翻译：

---

斯里兰卡皮肤利什曼病的综合回顾和现有知识差距的识别。

目的

斯里兰卡是皮肤利什曼病的地方病，据报道是亚洲次大陆利什曼病的最新焦点。每年，利什曼病病例的数量都在增加；因此，更有效的诊断工具、治疗方法和有效的预防措施必不可少。出于这个原因，在斯里兰卡进行了许多关于利什曼病感染的研究；但是，有些领域需要更多关注。因此，在这篇综述中，我们全面讨论了在斯里兰卡开展的利什曼病研究。

方法

在 PubMed、Google Scholar 和 ResearchGate 数据库中搜索了已发表的关于斯里兰卡利什曼病的文章。文章的纳入标准基于关键字搜索，包括“斯里兰卡的利什曼病”、“斯里兰卡的利什曼病媒介”、“斯里兰卡的白蛉物种”、“斯里兰卡的利什曼病流行病学”，截至 2019 年 7 月 15 日可公开访问.

结果

在这项研究中，我们评估和总结了斯里兰卡的利什曼病报告，主要关注利什曼病感染的临床表现、斯里兰卡多诺瓦尼利什曼原虫菌株的遗传特征、地理分布和相关环境因素、感染的免疫学方面、载体、宿主、危险因素、诊断和治疗、预防和控制。此外，我们确定了需要进一步研究以填补基本知识空白的领域。

结论

利什曼病已成为斯里兰卡极为重要的寄生虫感染，而重要的临床形式是皮肤利什曼病。该国所有地区都报告了利什曼病感染的流行情况。因此，有必要进行更多的研究来填补本综述中强调的现有知识空白。