Epidemiologia da Leishmaniose visceral no estado do Ceará: uma análise bibliográfica

Abstract

Leishmaniasis are infectious and parasitic zoonoses caused by several species of parasites of the genus Leishmania. In Brazil, its transmission occurs through the bite of female sandflies of the genus Lutzomyia. Depending on the species of Leishmania, leishmaniasis can manifest in two types: american tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) and visceral leishmaniasis (VL), which has become a fully urbanized disease that affects humans and canids, causing public health problems, mainly, in children under five and in immunosuppressed people. The epidemiological surveillance of VL encompasses the detection of cases to their confirmation, with the objective of performing an early diagnosis and directing an adequate treatment. Hence, the present study aimed to analyze the epidemiological profile of notifications of human and canine visceral leishmaniasis between January 2012 and December 2021, in the state of Ceará. Therefore, a bibliographic survey was carried out on human and canine VL notifications on scientific platforms and databases of the Ministry of Health and the State Government of Ceará, in the search for epidemiological bulletins, scientific articles, dissertations and theses. In Ceará, the year with the highest incidence of cases was 2014 for human VL, and 2013 for canine VL, suggesting that increases in canine VL cases may lead to increases in human VL cases. The Ceará’s cities with the highest rate of human VL transmission between 2018 and 2020 were Ipaporanga, Fortaleza, Barbalha, Crato, Granja and Assaré, which also presented canine VL transmission in the same period. Mainly in 2020, there was a reduction in notifications of human and canine VL, suggesting that the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced this reduction. However, further studies are needed to understand the importance of dogs as reservoirs and their impact on human cases, and how the pandemic directly or indirectly impacted notifications of visceral leishmaniasis cases in the state of Ceará, and, consequently, in Brazil.