Cutaneous leishmaniasis surveillance report in Saudi Arabia, 2017-2018
Hakami Bassam, Yahya AlAsseri, Almutairi Abdulaziz, Kamel Shady, Abd-Ellatif Eman
Corresponding author: Hakami Bassam, Field Epidemiology Training Program, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Jazan Health Cluster, Jazan, Saudi Arabia 
Received: 26 Dec 2024 - Accepted: 29 May 2025 - Published: 17 Feb 2026
Domain: Epidemiology,Tropical medicine
Keywords: Leishmaniasis, surveillance, cutaneous, epidemiology, tropical diseases
Funding: This work received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or non-profit sectors.
This article is published as part of the supplement Teaching Case Studies in Field Epidemiology and Public Health for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, commissioned by Mirwais Amiri, Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network, (EMPHNET ), href="mailto:mamiri@emphnet.net"> ✉ .
©Hakami Bassam et al. Pan African Medical Journal (ISSN: 1937-8688). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Hakami Bassam et al. Cutaneous leishmaniasis surveillance report in Saudi Arabia, 2017-2018. Pan African Medical Journal. 2026;53(1):1. [doi: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2026.53.1.46350]
Available online at: https://www.panafrican-med-journal.com//content/series/53/1/1/full
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Cutaneous leishmaniasis surveillance report in Saudi Arabia, 2017-2018
Cutaneous leishmaniasis surveillance report in Saudi Arabia, 2017-2018
Hakami Bassam1,&, Yahya AlAsseri2, Almutairi Abdulaziz3, Kamel Shady4, Abd-Ellatif Eman5
&Corresponding author
Leishmaniasis is a protozoal disease caused by more than 20 Leishmania species. Over 90 sandfly species are known to transmit Leishmania parasites. There are three main forms of the disease including visceral, cutaneous, and mucocutaneous. In Saudi Arabia, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) poses a persistent public health challenge, despite efforts to control it. The aim of this study is to describe the demographic and geographic characteristics of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis cases reported by the national surveillance in Saudi Arabia in 2017 and 2018. Data obtained from the Health Electronic Surveillance Network (HESN) for confirmed CL cases across Saudi Arabia. The analysis included variables such as age, gender, nationality, region, diagnosis date, and epidemiological week. A total of 827 cases were included, with 397 cases in 2017 and 430 cases in 2018. Ahsa had the highest rates in both years. Most cases were males (81.86%), with a mean age of 29.98 years. CL was more common among Saudi nationals (51.15%) than other nationalities, and cases peaked in February and were lowest in July. The highest number of CL reported in the Western and Eastern regions of Saudi Arabia. National and regional studies are needed to guide the development of evidence-based diagnostic and management guidelines for CL control.
General instructions: this case study should be used as adjunct training material for novice epidemiology trainees to reinforce the concepts taught in prior lectures. The case study is ideally taught by a facilitator in groups of about 20 participants. Participants required to take turns reading the case study, usually a paragraph per student. The facilitator guides the discussion on responses to questions. The facilitator may make use of flip charts to illustrate certain points. Additional instructor's notes for facilitation are coupled with each question in the instructor's guide to aid facilitation.
Audience: this case study was developed for novice field epidemiology students. These participants are commonly health care workers working in the county departments of health whose background may be as medical doctors, nurses, environmental health officers or laboratory scientists who work in public health-related fields. Most have a health science or biology background.
Prerequisites: before using this case study, participants should have received lectures on disease surveillance and outbreak investigation.
Level of training and associated public health activity: Novice - surveillance investigation.
Time required: 2-3 hours
Language: English
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The authors declare no competing interests.
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