Abstract
Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (Kalaazar)
is an important endemic disease in Iraq
(WHO 2000) .The disease appears to affect
infants and young children mostly under 2 years
old .The disease is very dangerous and fatal if it
is left without treatment .Trace elements have
an important role in the treatment and prognosis
of different types of parasitic infection
Objective: Study the relationship between
serum trace elements and the disease which
may be used as an indicator of the course of the
disease
Methods: 14 male and 12 female patients
(positive IFAT) their age were between 6
months and 15 years were used in this study
.Serum copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and magnesium
were measured using atomic absorption
spectrophotometer.
Results: There is a significant increase (p<0.05)
in serum Cu and significant decrease in serum
Zn of kala-azar patients.
Conclusions: Body reaction against parasite
infection is associated with different changes in
serum level of trace elements.
Keywords: kala-azar, trace elements, copper, zinc,
magnesium, visceral leishmaniasis
1Introduction
It has become well established that
many trace elements play an essential
role in a number of biological processes
through their action as activator or
inhibitor of enzymatic reaction by
competing with other elements and
proteins for the binding sites, by
influencing the permeability of the cell
membrane[1], or through other
mechanism[2]. Several biological
mechanisms have been proposed to
explain how trace elements could
reduce the incidence of a number of
different cancer and infectious
disease[3]. Visceral leishmanasis is an
important endemic disease in Iraq[4,5];
1 Medical
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Iraqi J Med Sci, 2005; Vol. 4 (1): 10-13
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