Uncharacterized Hematological Response Patterns in Leishmaniasis: A Comparative Study with Dermatological Disorders and Healthy Controls

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is a vegetable parasite disease that present clinically with a spectrum of clinical features and this is because of Leishmania species and localized cutaneous lesions to extreme systemic lesions visceral.2 Even though dermatological alterations have been well-reported, hematological alterations have not been characterized especially when comparing it to non-parasitism skin diseases. This was a cross-sectional comparison of the hematology parameters of 50 individuals with known leishmaniasis, 50 with non-leishmanial skin diseases (e.g., eczema, psoriasis, and fungal infections), and 50 healthy individuals who were at the same age. No significant differences in age [ Leishmania: (33.6±15.74) years; skin disease: (31.9±13.4); control: (31.189.6)], hemoglobin, red cell count and the mean corpuscular volume. However, the white blood cells and neutrophil concentrations in the group of leishmaniasis and skin diseases were significantly reduced compared to the controls (p = 0.0001). A large number of platelets was observed in the skin disease group (p=0.04). The serological finding showed that 21 cases of leishmaniasis were positive in Leishmania-specific IgG, 3 cases among the patients of skin disease and none among the controls and no case of IgM. The findings indicate leukopenic responses similarity between the parasitic and non-parasitic skin diseases, they could share common immunological response, and hematology profile could be utilized to make a differential diagnosis in endemic settings. Causal relationship and treatment implications need more longitudinal research studies to be done.