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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Ibnosina Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences 2020; 12(01): 44-48
DOI: 10.4103/ijmbs.ijmbs_9_20
Case Report

A rare encounter in nonsuspecting circumstances: First congenital visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) in Libya

Amal Elarabi
1   Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tripoli University Hospital, Tripoli
,
Zinab Saad
1   Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tripoli University Hospital, Tripoli
2   Department of Pediatric, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli
,
Walid Saadawi
3   National Centre for Disease Control, Tripoli
,
Nadia Aldobea
3   National Centre for Disease Control, Tripoli
,
Fauzi Sagher
1   Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tripoli University Hospital, Tripoli
2   Department of Pediatric, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli
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Congenital transmission of Leishmaniasis is very rare. It occurs through blood exchange from the mother to the child during pregnancy or delivery. We report the first confirmed congenital leishmaniasis in a 4-month-old Libyan boy with prolonged jaundice and hepatosplenomegaly. This was a congenital transmission from his mother who was asymptomatic and not known to have leishmaniasis, which was confirmed after the diagnosis of the infant. Despite treatment, the infant died. The diagnostic approach is illustrated by the case report. Poor obstetric history in the mother may be related to her own undiagnosed kala azar.

Key-words:

Congenital kala azar - Leishmania infantum - visceral leishmaniasis

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.




Publication History

Received: 01 February 2020

Accepted: 26 March 2020

Article published online:
07 July 2022

© 2020. The Libyan Authority of Scientific Research and Technologyand the Libyan Biotechnology Research Center. All rights reserved. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License,permitting copying and reproductionso long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, oradapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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