Abstract

Introduction: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis is one of the endemic diseases in Khorasan. Human is the main host in the urban cutaneous Leishmaniasis, so we can limit it's incidence -specially for drug resistant types- by early diagnosis and suitable treatment with correct dosage.
There are many ambiguities in diagnosis and treatment of this disease, so we decided to evaluate knowledge of general practitioners about leishmaniasis in Mashhad and Chenaran to provide a guide for educational purpose.
Materials and Method: This study, a descriptive -analytic one, was done on 62 general physicians through a questionnaire whose reliability and validity were confirmed and containing 15 questions in three subjects including etiology & epidemiology, clinical
 
findings & diagnosis, and treatment.  We gathered our data from health care centers. To describe and analyze the data, frequency tables & diagrams and chi-square, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal –wallis & T-student tests were used.
Results: Among 62 physicians, 28 were male (45. 2 percent). 54. 6 percent of subjects were 31 to 40 years old. 40. 3% and 3. 2% of these physicians had low level and high level of information about leishmaniasis respectively. Levels of information between males and females were not statistically different. Sex, sites and years of practice, and participation in continuous educational courses did not significantly influence knowledge of physicians. Individuals under 30 years old in comparison with subjects above 40 years old had more information about Leishmaniasis
Conclusion: AS indicated by the results, educational courses regarding different aspects of Leishmaniasis, especially its treatment during medical education and other follow-up continiuos educational courses, sould be considered as an educational need.
Keywords: cutaneous leishmaniasis, general practitioners of health centers, treatment