Leishmanin skin test survey in a focus of high endemicity of Leishmania major in Jordan

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an endemic disease in Jordan. From 1973 to 1978, a total of 524 cases was reported with almost half of them occurring in the Jordan Valley. In the following years the number of cases recorded from this area has considerably increased. Many subjects were infected in the area of Swaimeh, a small village of about 2000 inhabitants not far from the Jordan River (data from the Ministry of Health). Here, parasites isolated from man and the rodent reservoir Psammomys obesus have been identified isoenzymatically as Leishmania major, agent of zoonotic CL (ZCL). As part of surveillance activities for ZCL in the Jordan Valley, a preliminary survey was carried out among the population of Swaimeh in October 1991, which revealed an impressive prevalence of scars suggestive for past L. major infections. It was thus decided to carry out a leishmanin skin test (LST) in the village in order to obtain epidemetric indices of ZCL.