Clinical features and epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis and Leishmania major/HIV co-infection in Cameroon: results of a large cross-sectional study.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in Central Africa, including Cameroon. However, data on its prevalence and co-infection with HIV are scarce. Here we present the results of a large cross-sectional study reporting the prevalence, clinical features and species identification of CL and HIV co-infection in northern Cameroon. A total of 32 466 subjects were clinically screened for CL during a door-to-door survey, followed by parasitological diagnosis in the field laboratory. Amongst the subjects surveyed, 146 (0.4%) were diagnosed with active CL. Seven (4.8%) of these 146 CL patients tested positive for HIV-1 and/or HIV-2. The number of lesions per CL patient ranged from 1 to 20. Three of…