TABLE 1.
Association between Leishmania Western blotting positivity and possible risk factors
| Predictive variable (no. of subjects) | Western blotting result |
OR (95% CI) | Pearson's χ2 (P value)a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. positive (%) | No. negative (%) | |||
| Age | ||||
| <57 (387) | 22 (5.7) | 365 (94.3) | 2.31 (1.18-4.49) | 6.38 (P= 0.012) |
| >56 (139) | 17 (12.2) | 122 (87.8) | ||
| Present place of residence | ||||
| Rural (297) | 31 (10.4) | 266 (89.6) | 3.21 (1.45-7.14) | 9.1 (P= 0.002) |
| Urban (229) | 8 (3.5) | 221 (96.5) | ||
| Previous place of residence | ||||
| Surveyed area since childhood (222) | 28 (12.6) | 194 (87.4) | 3.84 (1.87-7.9) | 15.1 (P= 0.0001) |
| Other Italian/foreign regions (304) | 11 (3.6) | 293 (96.4) | ||
| Occupation | ||||
| Farming/other outdoor jobsb (218) | 22 (10.1) | 196 (89.9) | 1.92 (0.99-3.71) | 3.88 (P= 0.048) |
| Employees, professionals (308) | 17 (5.5) | 291 (94.5) | ||
| Contact with animals (frequency) | ||||
| Daily (376) | 35 (9.3) | 341 (90.7) | 3.74 (1.3-10.73) | 6.9 (P= 0.008) |
| Seldom/no contact (150) | 4 (2.7) | 146 (97.3) | ||
| Contact with animals (type) | ||||
| Dogs (293) | 26 (8.9) | 267 (91.1) | 1.64 (0.82-3.28) | 2.05 (P = n.s.) |
| Other (233) | 13 (5.6) | 220 (94.4) | ||
| Holiday destinations | ||||
| Italy/abroad (302) | 17 (5.6) | 285 (94.4) | 0.54 (0.28-1.05) | 3.29 (P = n.s.) |
| Home (surveyed area) (224) | 22 (9.8) | 202 (90.2) | ||
| Outdoor leisure activitiesc | ||||
| Yes (365) | 30 (8.2) | 335 (91.8) | 1.51 (0.7-3.26) | 1.12 (P = n.s.) |
| No (161) | 9 (5.6) | 152 (94.4) | ||
a
Significant associations are in boldface. n.s., not significant.
b
Other jobs include night watchmen and security/road guards.
c
Fishing, hunting, camping, trekking, etc.