Human visceral leishmaniasis in Pernambuco-Brazil: a descriptive study, 2015 to 2020

Introduction: Leishmaniasis is a systemic pathology caused by a parasite of the genres Leishmania which Dogs are the main disease reservoir. The main parasite form of transmission in Brazil is through Lutzomyia longipalpis female bite. Objective: The objective of this work is assessing the epidemiological profile of the VL in Pernambuco from 2015 to 2020. Method: It is an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, and retrospective from secondary data about LV rates in Pernambuco. Data were collected from DATASUS, SINAN and IBGE all Brazilian official systems. Results: Pernambuco, located in Northeast region of Brazil presented high rates of Leishmaniasis more distribution in the backwoods of the state. Notification index of the state in the studied period were 175, 118, 185, 200, 181 and 113 respectively for each year from 2015 to 2020. In 2016 there was a reduction of 32% in cases in relation to 2015. In contrast, there was a significant increase in subsequent years 56.8%, 8,1%, 9,5% but in 2020 there was the smallest number of cases already notified, a decreasing of 37.6%. The mortality average of VL in the state of Pernambuco between 2015 and 2020 was 8.1%. Co-infection of the VL with HIV revealed an increase over the years. Conclusion: The incidence of Co-infected patients with Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV is a worrying factor. Also, sanitation is the main measure to reduce several neglected diseases, for that reason the development of social actions to raise awareness against the disease in all aspects are essential.