Molecular epidemiological study of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Beni Mellal and Fquih Ben Saleh provinces in Morocco.

Leishmaniases are parasitic diseases frequent in the Mediterranean Basin. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) has been recently emerged in several new foci, causing a public health problem in Morocco. This study was performed to evaluate the epidemiological status of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Beni Mellal and Fquih Ben Saleh Provinces and to identify the causative agent. A total of 584 (56% female, 44% male) confirmed cases of CL were enrolled during the study period 2000-2012. Majority of cases (56%) were recorded in three sectors: Zaouiat Cheikh, Beni Mellal and Oulad Ayad. Fisher statistical test showed that there is a significant effect of the total cases of CL affected in the 185 localities. The age distribution of CL cases was relatively stable, with the majority of patients (62.34%) aged less than 9 years old with significant differences (p-value<2.2e-16). CL lesions were mostly located on the face (89%). The average number of lesions per patient was 1.38. Leishmania tropica was identified as the causative agent based on species-specific ITS1-PCR-RFLP assay.