Dataset Information

Autochthonous Cases of Mucosal Leishmaniasis in Northeastern Italy: Clinical Management and Novel Treatment Approaches.

ABSTRACT: Mucosal leishmaniasis (ML) is a rare clinical variant of tegumentary leishmaniasis in Mediterranean Europe. Here we report on three autochthonous cases of head and neck ML in patients living in Northeastern Italy. Patients presented with non-specific, long-standing symptoms of upper respiratory tract involvement, mimicking other diseases. Parasitological diagnosis was reached by histopathology, immunohistochemistry and molecular biology on tissue specimens. Leishmania infantum was identified by molecular typing in all three cases. All patients reached a complete remission with protracted multivalent antileishmanial drugs; in one case, a novel approach of combined medical and endoscopic surgical treatment was carried out. High clinical suspicion led to a prompt diagnosis and deployment of a multivalent treatment. ML should be considered in the differential diagnosis of nasal, oral, and pharyngolaryngeal lesions in endemic areas. A prompt diagnosis is mandatory to establish a correct management; different antileishmanial medications as well as endoscopic surgical options may be required to reach a complete remission.

SUBMITTER: Gaspari V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7232153 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Autochthonous Cases of Mucosal Leishmaniasis in Northeastern Italy: Clinical Management and Novel Treatment Approaches.

Gaspari Valeria V Zaghi Irene I Macrì Giovanni G Patrizi Annalisa A Salfi Nunzio N Locatelli Francesca F Carra Elena E Re Maria Carla MC Varani Stefania S

Microorganisms 20200418 4

Mucosal leishmaniasis (ML) is a rare clinical variant of tegumentary leishmaniasis in Mediterranean Europe. Here we report on three autochthonous cases of head and neck ML in patients living in Northeastern Italy. Patients presented with non-specific, long-standing symptoms of upper respiratory tract involvement, mimicking other diseases. Parasitological diagnosis was reached by histopathology, immunohistochemistry and molecular biology on tissue specimens. <i>Leishmania infantum</i> was identif ...[more]

PMID: 32325735

Similar Datasets

Project description:INTRODUCTION: Leishmaniasis is considered as one of the six most important infectious diseases because of its high detection coefficient and ability to produce deformities. In most cases, mucosal leishmaniasis (ML) occurs as a consequence of cutaneous leishmaniasis. If left untreated, mucosal lesions can leave sequelae, interfering in the swallowing, breathing, voice and speech processes and requiring rehabilitation. OBJECTIVE: To describe the anatomical characteristics and voice quality of ML patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive transversal study was conducted in a cohort of ML patients treated at the Laboratory for Leishmaniasis Surveillance of the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases-Fiocruz, between 2010 and 2013. The patients were submitted to otorhinolaryngologic clinical examination by endoscopy of the upper airways and digestive tract and to speech-language assessment through directed anamnesis, auditory perception, phonation times and vocal acoustic analysis. The variables of interest were epidemiologic (sex and age) and clinic (lesion location, associated symptoms and voice quality. RESULTS: 26 patients under ML treatment and monitored by speech therapists were studied. 21 (81%) were male and five (19%) female, with ages ranging from 15 to 78 years (54.5+15.0 years). The lesions were distributed in the following structures 88.5% nasal, 38.5% oral, 34.6% pharyngeal and 19.2% laryngeal, with some patients presenting lesions in more than one anatomic site. The main complaint was nasal obstruction (73.1%), followed by dysphonia (38.5%), odynophagia (30.8%) and dysphagia (26.9%). 23 patients (84.6%) presented voice quality perturbations. Dysphonia was significantly associated to lesions in the larynx, pharynx and oral cavity. CONCLUSION: We observed that vocal quality perturbations are frequent in patients with mucosal leishmaniasis, even without laryngeal lesions; they are probably associated to disorders of some resonance structures (larynx, pharynx and nasal and oral cavities) or even to compensation mechanisms caused by the presence of lesions in the upper airways and digestive tract.

Project description:BackgroundTegumentary leishmaniasis (TL) is a parasitic disease that can present a cutaneous or mucocutaneous clinical form (CL and MCL, respectively). The disease is caused by different Leishmania species and transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies. Bolivia has one of the highest incidences of the disease in South America and the diagnosis is done by parasitological techniques. Our aim was to describe the clinical and immunological characteristics of CL and MCL patients attending the leishmaniasis reference center in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in order to gain updated clinical and epidemiological information, to evaluate the diagnostic methods used and to identify biomarkers related to clinical disease and its evolution.Methodology/principal findingsThe study was conducted from September 2014 to November 2015 and 135 patients with lesions compatible with CL or MCL were included. Epidemiological and clinical data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Two parasitological diagnostic methods were used: Giemsa-stained smears and culture of lesion aspirates. Blood samples obtained from participants were used to measure the concentrations of different cytokines. 59.2% (80/135) were leishmaniasis confirmed cases (CL: 71.3%; MCL: 28.7%). Sixty percent of the confirmed cases were positive by smears and 90.6% were positive by culture. 53.8% were primo-infections. Eotaxin and monokine induced by IFN-γ presented higher serum concentrations in the MCL clinical presentation compared to CL cases and no-cases. None of the cytokines presented different concentrations between primo-infections and secondary infections due to treatment failure.Conclusions/significanceIn Bolivia, parasitological diagnosis remains the reference standard in diagnosis of leishmaniasis because of its high specificity, whereas the sensitivity varies over a wide range leading to loss of cases. Until more accurate tools are implemented, all patients should be tested by both smears and culture of lesion aspirates to minimize the risk of false negatives. Our results showed higher concentrations of several cytokines in MCL compared to CL, but no differences were observed between CL and no-cases. In addition, none of the cytokines differed between primary and secondary infections. These results highlight the need of further research to identify biomarkers of susceptibility and disease progression, in addition to looking at the local cellular immune responses in the lesions.

Dataset Information

Autochthonous Cases of Mucosal Leishmaniasis in Northeastern Italy: Clinical Management and Novel Treatment Approaches.

Publications

Autochthonous Cases of Mucosal Leishmaniasis in Northeastern Italy: Clinical Management and Novel Treatment Approaches.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets