Table 1.
Period | City/province | Number of cases | Method of diagnosis | Species of Leishmania | Type of lesions seen | ||
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(1) | Gazozai et al. [8] | 2005–2007 | Quetta, Balochistan | 300 | Histopathological examination; skin smears | Nodules, plaques, ulcers and/or scarring | |
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(2) | Firdous et al. [4] | 2005–2007 | Quetta, Balochistan; adjoining areas noted included Sibi, Zhob, Loralai, Pishin, and Kohlu | 207 | Histopathological examination | L. major | 94% of lesions on upper and lower extremities in military personnel. 77 (37%) had a single lesion, 46 (19%) had two lesions, 19 (9%) had three lesions, and 35% had four lesions. The lesions were mostly noduloulcerative plaques with or without crusting |
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(3) | Kakarsulemankhel et al. [9] | 1996–2001 | Data from 7 zones of the province of Balochistan | School children: 17–22 years: 1617 cases 11–16 years: 2643 cases 5–10 years: 3210 cases 8,007 patients with active lesions presenting to hospitals/clinics. |
Survey data, clinical and/or histopathological examination employed in different regions | Dry lesions more common in Quetta; wet lesions in other 6 regions of the province. Both active lesions and scarring were noted | |
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(4) | Raja et al. [10] | 1998 | Balochistan | 1709 patients; 2% (37) had unusual presentations | Clinical and histopathology | These included acute paronychial, chancriform, annular, palmoplantar, zosteriform, and erysipeloid forms in a total of 37 patients | |
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(5) | Kassi et al. [1, 11] | Quetta, Balochistan | 166 | FNAC/Histopathology | Dry ulcerated lesions were noted to be more common on face, arms, and legs | ||
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(6) | Shoai et al. [12] | 1997–2001 | Karachi, Sindh (areas of origin of patients were noted from all 4 provinces, mainly from Sindh (40.5%) and Balochistan (28%)) | 175 | Histopathological examination and PCR | Both L. Tropica and L. major | h 60 (82.6%) showed wet type of lesions characterized by exudates, redness, and inflamed margins. The remaining 15 (17.3%) were of dry and nodular type covered by crust |
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(7) | Brooker et al. [13] | 2002-2003 | 19 neighboring villages in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 7,305 persons | Clinical diagnosis | Overall, 650 persons (2.3%) had anthroponotic CL (ACL) lesions only, 1,236 (4.4%) had ACL scars only, and 38 persons had both ACL lesions and scars | |
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(8) | Myint et al. [14] | 2008 | Samples from both Sindh and Balochistan: 48 cases from lowland areas; 21 cases from highland areas | 69 | Gene sequencing | 47 L. Major and 1 L. Tropica in lowland areas. 5 L. Major and 16 L. Tropica in highland areas. |
Again, no correlation between clinical presentation (wet, dry and/or mixed types of cutaneous lesions) and causal leishmania parasites |
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(9) | Bhutto et al. [15] | 1996–2001 | Jacobabad, Larkana, and Dadu districts of Sindh province and residents of Balochistan province | 1210 | Clinical; a giemsa-stained smear test and histopathology | Clinically, the disease was classified as dry papular type, 407 cases; dry ulcerative type, 335 cases; wet ulcerative type, 18 cases | |
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(10) | Bari et al. [7] | 2009 | Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 2 | Slit skin smear and FNAC | Cutaneous fissures on lip and dorsum of finger | |
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(11) | Rahman et al. [5] | 2006–2008 | Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 1680 498 patients from different areas of Peshawar; 688 from FATA; 89 from other urban and rural areas of the province |
Skin smear for LD bodies | Typical “oriental sore” noted in 1512 cases; 168 had an atypical presentation. Several chronic nonhealing ulcers were noted. | |
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(12) | Ul Bari and Ejaz [6] | 2009 | Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 1 | Skin smear preparation | Rhinophyma-like plaque on nose | |
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(13) | Ul Bari [16] | 2009 | Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 72 | Smear preparations/histopathological examination | Nasal leishmaniasis. Main morphological patterns included psoriasiform (30), furunculoid (8), nodular (13), lupoid (8), mucocutaneous (4), and rhinophymous (3) | |
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(14) | Qureshi et al. [17] | 2007 | Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 1 | Histopathology | Typical butterfly-like rash seen in SLE | |
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(15) | Saleem et al. [18] | 2004–2006 | Karachi, Sindh | 100 | Clinical and histopathological examination | Nodules, plaques, ulcers, crusted ulcers, lupoid lesions, and plaques with scarring were mainly noted | |
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(16) | Bhutto et al. [19] | 2009 | Larkana, Sindh | 108 | Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) | L. Major (105) L. Tropica (3) | |
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(17) | Ul Bari and Ber Rahman [20] | 2004–2006 | Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 60 | Slit-skin smear and histopathology | Presentation either (a) wet type (early ulcerative, rural) or (b) dry type (late ulcerative, urban) | |
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(18) | Rowland et al. [21] | 1997 | Timergara, Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 9200 inhabitants | Clinical diagnosis; sample of cases confirmed with microscopy and PCR | Possible L. tropica based on Noyes et al. [22] | 38% of the 9200 inhabitants bore active lesions, and a further 13% had scars from earlier attacks |
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(19) | Mujtaba and Khalid [23] | 1995–1997 | Multan, Punjab | 305 | Giemsa-stained smear from the lesion | All the lesions were of the dry type. Most of the lesions (97%) were present on exposed areas of the body | |
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(20) | Ayub et al. [24] | 1999–2000 | Multan, Punjab | 173 | Smear for LD bodies | Clinically all the lesions were of dry type, with 67% present on legs | |
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(21) | Anwar et al. [25] | 2004 | Khushab district, Punjab | 105 | FNAC of the lesion for first 4 cases; only history and clinical assessment for remaining | Disseminated forms noted in multiple cases; with 1 patient with more than 50 lesions | |
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(22) | Bari and Rahman [26] | 2002–2006 | Rawalpindi, Sargodha, and Muzaffarabad | 718 patients with CL; study was on 41 patients with unusual presentations | Clinical and histopathological examination | Common unusual presentations noted were lupoid leishmaniasis in 14 (34.1%), followed by sporotrichoid 5 (12.1%), paronychial 3 (7.3%), lid leishmaniasis 2 (4.9%), psoriasiform 2 (4.9%), mycetoma-like 2 (4.9%), erysipeloid 2 (4.9%), and chancriform 2 (4.9%) | |
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(23) | Ul Bari and Raza [27] | 2006–2008 | Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir | 16 | Histopathological examination | Cutaneous lesions resembling lupus vulgaris or lupus erythematosus, mainly over face. Morphological patterns included erythematous/infiltrated, psoriasiform, ulcerated/crusted, and discoid lupus erythematosus |
†As noted, the province of Balochistan followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa appears to have taken a major toll. Most of the cities and hospitals where the disease has been identified serve as major tertiary care referral centers for the rest of the province. The exact estimates in adjoining cities and rural areas are underestimated and not well known.