@article{Ahmed_Musa_Mahmoud Sayed Sayedahmed_Mohammed_Ahmed_Mohamed_Nail_2022, title={Assessment of Variation in Clinical Presentation of Visceral Leishmaniasis Among Patients Attending the Tropical Diseases Teaching Hospital in Sudan}, volume={17}, url={https://knepublishing.com/index.php/SJMS/article/view/12110}, DOI={10.18502/sjms.v17i3.12110}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Background:</strong> Visceral leishmaniasis (also known as Kala-azar) is a systemic parasitic infection with many clinical presentations. The present study assesses the variation in presentations among patients who attended the Tropical Diseases Teaching Hospital (TDTH) in Khartoum, Sudan.</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> This analytical cross-sectional, hospital-based study was conducted at the TDTH between November 2019 and September 2020. Medical records of patients who presented at the TDTH were reviewed using a structured data extraction checklist. The Chi-square test was used to determine the associations between sociodemographic and clinical presentations of patients. <em>P</em>-value &lt; 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> Out of 195 patients, 79.5% were male and 48.2% were &lt;31 years old. Fever was the main clinical presentation (90.2%) while 53.3% presented with weight loss and 72.3% and 39% presented, respectively, with splenomegaly and hepatomegaly. HIV was detected in 4.6% of the patients. RK39 was the main diagnostic test. We found a significant association between the abdominal distention and the age of the patients (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05) – age groups 11–20 and 41–50 years were more likely to present with abdominal distention than other age groups.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> There is no exact clinical presentation or routine laboratory findings that are pathognomonic for visceral leishmaniasis; therefore, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of any patient with fever, weight loss, and abdominal distention, and among patients with HIV.</p&gt;}, number={3}, journal={Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences (SJMS)}, author={Ahmed, Hammam Abdalrhman Altom Mohammed and Musa, Ahmed Ali Ahmed and Mahmoud Sayed Sayedahmed, Ahmed and Mohammed, Shiraz Bashir Jabralseed and Ahmed, Ehssan Farouk Mohamed and Mohamed, Anas Badreldeen Elageb and Nail, Abdelsalam Mohamed Ahmed}, year={2022}, month={Sep.}, pages={341–354} }