الفهرس 
AcknowledgmentOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Visceral jleishmaniasis (VL) is a disease of global distribution. It is caused by a tissue protozoan-.1... donovani, and transmitted by the bite of sand flies Phlebotominae.The parasite is almost entirely intracellular in the vertebrate host, living in mononuclear phagocytic cells. In Egypt, cases have been continuously reported since ~e report of the first case in 1982, thereafter other ~ro logical studies have been conducted to assess the disease prevalence. The present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of seropositive reactors to VL in Alexandria among children aged from 6 months to 6 years. This age is especially affected In the Medi terranean region. A sample of 382 children attending MCH centers representing the three different districts of Alexandria were studied. The data collec ted include: I-Personal data as age and sex. 2-Socioeconomic data. 3-0ther data which may have relation to the occurrence of the disease, as presence of dogs, rodents and bi ting insects. 4-Clinical examination of each child. S-Laboratory data including serological tests IFAT and IHAT, and haematological data including level of haemoglobin, total leukocytic count, as well as differential leukocytic coun t . Analysis of the data revealed that: I-The prevalence of seroposi ti ve reactor s among the examined children was 7.3 2-IFAT was more sensi ti ve than IHAT. However there was quali tative agreement between both tests. 3-Most of seropositive cases have a low antibody titer. 4-Seroposi ti ve children were aggregated in the age group (1-3 years). 5-No significant relation was found between sex and sero positive reactors. 6-There was no significant relation between seroposi ti ve children and socioeconomic level. 7-The highest percentage of seroposi ti ve children was among children from Abu-kier and the lowest was in EI-A gamy and Moharam Bey. 8-Most of seroposi ti ve children gave no history of travel, and this supports the indigenous origin of the disease. 9-There was no significant relation between seroposi ti ve children and the presence of vegetation, dogs and rodents, biting insects, use of insecticides and the type of home building material. l~Most of seropositive children were asymptomatic. Regarding the presence of clinical signs 32.1 of the seropositive children were free, 46.5 of them had lymphadenopathy which was most probably nonspecific. 10.7 had fever, and 10.7 had fever and lymphadenopathy. ll-Seroposi ti ve children had haemoglobin level ranged from less than 9 gmldl to 11.5 g Id’L. 12-The percentage of seroposi ti ve children having leukopenia was 3.7. 85.7 of the total seropositive reactors had lymphocytosis, 1.7 had monocytosis, and 85.7had eosino pamia. . The high prevalence rate of seropositive reactors to VL obtained in the present study indicates that VL constitute~ a real health problem among children aged from 6 months to 6 years. Therefore the diseas~ deserves more to diagnose it, and to achieve good and effective control programme.