Introduction:

The visceral leishmaniasis is an infectious disease whose etiologic agent is a protozoan of the genus Leishmania. This is a serious public health problem with a prevalence of northeastern Brazil.

Objective:

To identify the epidemiological profile of Visceral leishmaniasis cases in children in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais.

Methods:

We realized a retrospective study of confirmed cases of visceral leishmaniasis in children aged 0 to 12 years, reported to Information System Diseases and Notifications in the period from 2009 to 2011.

Results:

Were confirmed 37 cases of visceral leishmaniasis in children, which 51.36 % were female and children aged 1 to 4 years (54.05 %) were the most affected by the disease. It was found that the majority (94.59 %) of these children lived in urban areas. The main signs and symptoms shown in the cases were fever (100 %), splenomegaly (100 %), hepatomegaly (92 %) and pallor (92 %). Regarding cases’ evolution, 35 children (94.59 %) had cure and two (5.41 %) died.

Conclusion:

The results contribute to the knowledge of the visceral leishmaniasi’s characteristics in the child population of Montes Claros, characterized as endemic area of this disease.

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