Three new cases of visceral leishmaniasis in Côte d'Ivoire]

The objective of this work is to report three cases of visceral leishmaniasis in non-HIV infected native patients in Côte d'Ivoire. The three observations concerned adults aged of 31 and 65 and a five years old child without particular medical or surgery histories. Factors associated with visceral leishmaniasis regarding the younger and the older adults were respectively young age, chronic lymphoid leukaemia and Burkitt lymphoma. Clinical features in the three cases were chronic fever a myeloproliferative syndrome with wasting syndrome and pancytopenia. The diagnosis was confirmed by the existence of Leishmania in bone marrow, ganglionic juice and splenic samples. The species of Leishmania was not identified. Specific treatment was based on intravenous amphotericin B (Fungizone) relayed by Glucantim in one case because of side effects; however the treatment has been unsuccessful. These three new cases show that visceral leishmaniasis is a reality in Côte d'Ivoire therefore an epidemiological survey is requested in order to identify Leishmania species, reservoirs and vectors.