Introduction:

Visceral leishmaniasis is the most severe clinical form of leishmaniasis that mainly affects children and is potentially fatal.

Objective:

To explain the clinical-epidemiological characterization of visceral leishmaniasis in the pediatric population and its therapeutic response.

Methods:

It was conducted a retrospective, longitudinal and descriptive study in the Italian Hospital, Djibouti City in the period from September 2016 to August 2017. The sample group was formed by 166 children under 15 years old that were admitted with a diagnosis of prolonged fever without localization focus and the sample was of 22 children with confirmed diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. The information was obtained from the clinical records. Twenty variables were operationalized: sociodemographic, clinical, analytical, therapeutic and evolutive ones. Epidat 3.1 proccessor was used. The results were expressed in absolute values and percentages.

Results:

Visceral leishmaniasis was diagnosed in 13.2% children that were admitted in hospital due to prolonged fever, 90.9% of them were from rural areas and 59.1% were undernourished. 77,3% of the cases had antimonial treatment, 90.9% had hospital stay for more than 21 days and the 36.4% had complications due to pneumonia.

Conclusions:

Visceral leishmaniasis is a relatively frequent entity in children admitted in the Italian Hospital due to prolonged fever with a predominance of undernourished males, older that five years and from rural areas. Fever and splenomegaly are constant clinical manifestations, and anemia and leucopenia are the main laboratory findings. The use of antimonials is the election treatment with long hospital stay, and pneumonia is the most frequent complication.

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