Magnitude and trend of American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, 1975 to 2008.

The aim of this study was to analyze the magnitude and trend of American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis (ATL) in the State of São Paulo from 1975 to 2008. An ecological study that classified municipalities according to the magnitude of transmission was performed. From 1975 to 1985, 1,281 cases of ATL were registered in 45 municipalities, rising to 258 municipalities and 4,093 cases from 1986 to 1995; and reaching 385 municipalities and 7,604 cases from 1996 to 2008. Lutzomyia intermedia s.l. was collected in most of the entomological surveys. In the classification of municipalities according to magnitude, 67.5% were observed to have a "small magnitude," 19.2% "moderate magnitude" and 13.3% "high magnitude." The highest incidences of ATL have been restricted to underserved areas close to the Atlantic forest. There was an increase in the number of municipalities with small occurrence of cases and expansion in the area of risk.