A case of imported visceral leishmaniasis in clinical practice

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic natural focal zoonotic transmissible disease common in tropical and subtropical countries; it is caused by parasitic protozoa of the genus Leishmania, which are transmitted to humans through mosquito bites. The most severe form of the disease is visceral leishmaniasis, which affects the organs of the reticuloendothelial system. The lack of alertness in terms of clinical and laboratory diagnostics of this disease in non-endemic areas sometimes leads to errors in diagnostic verification. A rare imported clinical case of visceral leishmaniasis associated with fever, hepatosplenomegaly, generalized lymphadenopathy, and hematological syndrome in the form of three-line cytopenia is presented. Only detection of the pathogen in bone marrow puncture allowed us to make the correct diagnosis. Low awareness of doctors and the lack of systematic riskoriented monitoring of exotic diseases often complicates the timely diagnosis of leishmaniasis, which leads to an unfavorable clinical course of the disease and, in some cases, a fatal outcome.