ABSTRACT

The emergence of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has a considerable effect on the burden of other diseases. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an endemic parasitic disease in Iran. Here, we report an outbreak of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Jahrom county, which is an endemic region in the southwest of Iran. Before the pandemic, the annual occurrence of CL was less than 240 cases per year, while the number of cases increased to 307 and 771 cases in the first and second years after the pandemic, respectively. Molecular detection of some isolates identified Leishmania major. The rodent control program was completely interrupted during the first year of the COVID-19 outbreak in Jahrom (February to December 2020), then the program restarted again as routine from the summer of 2021 till now. Interrupted rodent control program along with inadequate screening programs of CL patients were probably one of the causes of this outbreak in Jahrom.

摘要

2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 大流行的出现对其他疾病的负担产生了相当大的影响。皮肤利什曼病 (CL) 是伊朗的一种地方性寄生虫病。在这里，我们报告了在 COVID-19 大流行期间在伊朗西南部的流行地区 Jahrom 县爆发的人畜共患性皮肤利什曼病 (ZCL)。大流行之前，CL的年发生率每年不到240例，而大流行后第一年和第二年的病例数分别增加到307例和771例。一些分离株的分子检测鉴定出主要利什曼原虫. 啮齿动物控制计划在 Jahrom 爆发 COVID-19 的第一年（2020 年 2 月至 12 月）完全中断，然后从 2021 年夏天到现在，该计划再次作为例行程序重新启动。啮齿动物控制计划中断以及对 CL 患者的筛查计划不足可能是 Jahrom 暴发的原因之一。