Comparison of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Patients in One-Year Pre-Outbreak and One-Year Post-Outbreak of COVID-19 in Shiraz City, Iran

Abstract

Iran ranks among the top ten countries for leishmaniasis and COVID-19 outbreaks. This study compared cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) cases in Shiraz one year before and one year after the COVID-19 outbreak. In this study, the recorded information of 988 suspected cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) patients referred to Valfajr Health Center was meticulously collected, prepared, and analyzed using the SPSS-24 Software and the Chi-square test. Comparing the pre-outbreak period (February 2019-March 2020) to the post-outbreak period (March 2021), 57.9% of 526 suspected CL cases were positive before the outbreak versus 76.4% of 462 cases after the outbreak. Pre-outbreak, women constituted 53.8% of CL cases, whereas post-outbreak, men constituted 55.8% of cases. The presence of underlying conditions, notably diabetes and hypertension, increased 3.5 times after the COVID-19 outbreak. Employment status also shifted, with increases in employed (from 5.3% to 10.5%) and self-employed (from 44.4% to 47.7%) individuals and a decrease in housewives (from 48.3% to 37.6%). COVID-19 has significantly impacted CL parameters, particularly gender distribution, employment status, and the acute-chronic nature of the disease, due to increased economic activity and community presence.