Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics and incidence trends of visceral leishmaniasis in the population in Shanxi province, the host infection status of Leishmania and vector density in the monitored county in the province, and provide evidence for the development of visceral leishmaniasis prevention and control strategies.

Methods   The information on visceral leishmaniasis case in Shanxi from 2019 to 2023 were colleceted from the Infectious Disease Reporting and Information Management System of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for a descriptive epidemiological analysis. The case epidemiological investigation information were collected to analyze the changes of affected counties.One county was selected from each of the three most severely affected prefectures(Yangquan, Linfen,and Changzhi) to conduct surveillance for the infection status of Leishmaniasis in dogs and the changes of sandfly density.

Results From 2019 to 2023, a total of 506 cases of visceral leishmaniasis, including 1 death, were reported in Shanxi, an annual incidence rate was 1.42/ 100 000. The reported cases count was the highest in Yangquan(328), followed by Linfen(91) and Changzhi(41). The cases reported in these areas accounted for 90.90% of the total reported cases in the province. There were 17 new endemic counties during 5 years. The male-to-female ratio of the reported cases was 2.49∶1.The cases were mainly farmers and home-cared children. The cases reported in age group 0~＜3 years accounted for the largest proportion. A total of 1 595 canine serum samples were collected over 5 years, in which 139 were positive, with a positive rate of 8.71%. The average sandfly density was 23.84 per lamp-night in the monitored counties from 2020 to 2023. During the surveillance period, sandflies began to appear at the end of May, with the average density of sandflies researching its peak in the end of June, at 72.36 per lamp-night, and then disappeared at the end of September.

Conclusion The rapidly increase of visceral leishmaniasis incidence in Shanxi had been basically contained, but the epidemic range continues to expand. The infection rate in dogs showed a downward trend, but the sandfly density remained to be high, so the management of dogs and vector control should be further strengthened .