[An adult case of visceral leishmaniasis in a province of Black-Sea region, Turkey].

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) which is a chronic disease caused by the protozoon, Leishmania, occurs widely worldwide and it is widespread in most of the countries in the Mediterranean basin. The infection which is transmitted by a sandfly (Phlebotomus) vector, has a prolonged incubation period and insidious onset. VL generally affects children and may be fatal if not treated. In this report, a 31 years old male patient, who was the first adult VL case from Zonguldak (a province located at western Black-Sea region of Turkey) was presented. He was admitted to the hospital with two-months history of fever, chills, sweating and weight loss. There was no history of travel outside the city nor insect bites, however, he indicated that there would be unnoticed sandfly bites since sandflies were very common in the coal mines he worked. His physical examination revealed body temperatue of 39.2°C and hepatosplenomegaly, while laboratory findings yielded anemia, leucopenia, hypoalbuminemia and hypergamaglobulinemia. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 62 mm/h, C-reactive protein was 113 mg/L and liver transaminases were 2 to 5 folds higher than the reference values. The only pathological finding was hepatosplenomegaly in the abdominal ultrasound and computerized tomography. He was further examined to rule out infections with similar signs and symptoms, connective tissue diseases and malignancies and all were found negative. Hypercellular bone marrow were detected in the aspiration material. Bone marrow smears, bone marrow samples inoculated in NNN medium and serum samples of the patient were sent to the reference parasitology laboratory of Refik Saydam National Public Health Agency for evaluation in terms of VL. The diagnosis was confirmed by the detection of Leishmania IgG titer as 1/512 with in-house indirect immunofluorescence antibody test, by positivite rK39 Dipstick (InBios, USA) test and by the observation of Leishmania amastigote forms in the bone marrow smears. Bone marrow culture in NNN medium also revealed positive result by the determination of Leishmania promastigote forms on the 7th day. The treatment was initiated by pentavalent antimony [glucantime 1 x 10 mg/kg/day intramuscular (IM)] however, due to severe adverse effects it has switched to liposomal amphotericin B (3 mg/kg/day). The patient completely recovered without complication. In conclusion VL should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients, even adults, with persistent fever, hepatosplenomegaly and pancytopenia, in endemic countries such as Turkey.