Background and Objective: Leishmaniasis is an infectious skin disease whose prevalence and spread are influenced by economic, cultural, environmental, and ecological factors. Since Jiroft is one of the main centers of leishmaniasis, the purpose of this study is to determine the effect of environmental factors on leishmaniasis rates in Jiroft during 2015–2022.
Materials and Methods: The present research is a cross-sectional study. The study population consists of all patients with leishmaniasis in Jiroft between 2015 and 2022. The sample included all patients with a confirmed diagnosis of the disease in Jiroft, selected using the census method. The environmental and climate data used in this study included temperature, precipitation, total sunny days, and humidity. To analyze the relationship between climatic factors and disease incidence, time series analysis was conducted at a 95% confidence level. For the analysis, ArcGIS software and the "tseries," "forecast," and "TAS" packages in R version 4.0.1 were used.
Results: The total number of leishmaniasis patients was 269, of whom 23.4% were aged 6–15 years and 50.2% were male. Rainfall and hours of sunshine showed a negative effect on the number of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases at log 0. The overall trend in the incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis decreased over the study period.
Conclusion: Although some environmental conditions had an adverse effect on the disease, leishmaniasis remains an endemic disease in Jiroft. Therefore, the continuation of preventive interventions, along with improvements in diagnosis, care, and treatment, is necessary to control its spread.
