Sudan j. med. sci; 17 (3), 2022
Publication year: 2022
Background:
Visceral leishmaniasis (also known as Kala-azar) is a systemic parasitic
infection with many clinical presentations. The present study assesses the variation in
presentations among patients who attended the Tropical Diseases Teaching Hospital
(TDTH) in Khartoum, Sudan.
Methods:
This analytical cross-sectional, hospital-based study was conducted at the
TDTH between November 2019 and September 2020. Medical records of patients who
presented at the TDTH were reviewed using a structured data extraction checklist. The
Chi-square test was used to determine the associations between sociodemographic
and clinical presentations of patients. P-value < 0.05 was considered as statistically
significant.
Results:
Out of 195 patients, 79.5% were male and 48.2% were <31 years old. Fever
was the main clinical presentation (90.2%) while 53.3% presented with weight loss
and 72.3% and 39% presented, respectively, with splenomegaly and hepatomegaly.
HIV was detected in 4.6% of the patients. RK39 was the main diagnostic test. We
found a significant association between the abdominal distention and the age of the
patients (P < 0.05) – age groups 11–20 and 41–50 years were more likely to present
with abdominal distention than other age groups.
Conclusion:
There is no exact clinical presentation or routine laboratory findings that
are pathognomonic for visceral leishmaniasis; therefore, it should be considered in the
differential diagnosis of any patient with fever, weight loss, and abdominal distention,
and among patients with HIV.