Geographic distribution of mycetoma cases in senegal over a period of 18 years.

BACKGROUND: Mycetoma is a pathological process in which fungal or actinomycotic agents of exogenous origin produce grains. In the absence of data on the global burden it is important to map mycetoma cases which is useful to implement control strategies.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to map mycetoma cases diagnosed in Senegal over a period of eighteen (18) years.

METHODOLOGY: The cases of mycetoma identified in the laboratory of Mycology at Aristide LeDantec hospital were extracted from the note books; information on the dates of collection, geographical origin and fungal agent identified were entered in Excel and analyzed.

RESULTS: Three hundred and thirty-seven (337) cases of mycetoma were diagnosed from 1993 to 2016 at Aristide LeDantec Hospital. Mapping shows that overall, the western zone presented the majority of cases 47% (120), followed respectively by the central zone 32% (80), the northern zone 18% (47) and the southern zone 2% (6). However, over the years, this distribution is different with a decrease in cases from the periods1993-2000 and 2011-2016 of 19% in the western and a progressive increase of cases in northern and central zones of respectively 13% and 14 %. In the 1990's the cases were predominant in Dakar, Louga and Diourbel. During 2011-2016 Thiès, Diourbel, Fouta and Louga presented more cases. Conclusion The spatial distribution of mycetoma in Senegal changed over the years, most frequent in the west of the country, during 1993 to 2000, mycetoma is now more common in the north.