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Emergence of Coinfection With Visceral Leishmania Infantum in Covid-19 Patients: A Case‒Control Field Study in an Endemic Area of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Iran Publisher Pubmed



Aminizadeh S1 ; Mohammadighalehbin B2 ; Mohebali M1 ; Hajjaran H2 ; Zarei Z1 ; Heidari Z2 ; Akhondi B1 ; Alizadeh Z3 ; Aghaei J2
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Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  2. 2. Zoonoses Research Center, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran
  3. 3. Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Medicine, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran

Source: BMC Infectious Diseases Published:2024


Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is a pandemic involving coinfection with other opportunistic microorganisms, including parasites such as Leishmania infantum. The present study aimed to determine the frequency of L. infantum infection and its role in disease and mortality among symptomatic COVID-19 patients in comparison with the non-COVID-19 control group in the endemic area of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Iran. Methods: A total of 250 blood samples from hospitalized COVID-19 patients and 231 blood samples from non-COVID-19 patients as a control group were collected in Mashkin Shahr city, Iran from October 2020 to May 2021, and anti-Leishmania infantum antibodies were detected via direct agglutination test (DAT). For confirmation of non-COVID-19 samples as the control group, anti-COVID-19 IgG antibodies were measured via indirect ELISA. Additionally, demographic data, clinical data, and disease outcomes were recorded. Results: Overall, 46 (18.4%) COVID-19 patients and 18 (7.8%) non-COVID-19 patients had anti-Leishmania infantum antibodies at titers of 1:200 or higher according to the DAT (p value 0.05). In the COVID-19 group, there was no statistically significant association between coinfection with L. infantum and sex, residency, treatment outcome, or symptoms. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the overall seroprevalence of L. infantum infection among patients with COVID-19 was 2.66 times greater than that in the control group, which was statistically significant. It seems that L. infantum infection can be considered a risk factor for COVID-19, particularly in VL endemic areas. Clinical trial number: Not applicable. © The Author(s) 2024.
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