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Leishmaniasis is a wide array of clinical manifestations caused by protozoal parasites of the Trypanosomatida genus Leishmania. [7] It is generally spread through the bite of phlebotomine sandflies , Phlebotomus and Lutzomyia , and occurs most frequently in the tropics and sub-tropics of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and southern Europe.
Leishmania / l iː ʃ ˈ m eɪ n i ə,-ˈ m æ n-/ [1] is a parasitic protozoan, a single-celled organism of the genus Leishmania that is responsible for the disease leishmaniasis. [2] [3] [4] They are spread by sandflies of the genus Phlebotomus in the Old World, and of the genus Lutzomyia in the New World.
Leishmania infantum is the causative agent of infantile visceral leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean region [1] and in Latin America, where it has been called Leishmania chagasi. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] It is also an unusual cause of cutaneous leishmaniasis , [ 4 ] which is normally caused by specific lineages (or zymodemes).
Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis is an especially disturbing form of cutaneous leishmaniasis, because it produces destructive and disfiguring lesions of the face. It is most often caused by Leishmania braziliensis, but cases caused by L. aethiopica have also been described. [10] Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis is very difficult to treat.
Cutaneous leishmaniasis is commonly characterized with skin lesions, which can appear localized, or throughout the body. While mucocutaneous leishmaniasis is characterized with ulcers around the skin, mouth, and nose. This form of Leishmaniasis has also been known to can spread by metastasis and can be deadly. [2]
Cutaneous leishmaniasis, a disease transmitted by Phlebotomus, in North Africa; Leishmania infantum = green, Leishmania major = blue, Leishmania tropica = red [2]. In the Old World, Phlebotomus sand flies are primarily responsible for the transmission of leishmaniasis, [2] an important parasitic disease, while transmission in the New World, is generally via sand flies of the genus Lutzomyia. [3]
L. tropica causes a broad spectrum of leishmaniasis forms in humans. Most common is a variant called dry-type cutaneous leishmaniasis. After an incubation period lasting more than 2 months, a small brownish nodular lesion will appear with a slowly extending plaque reaching a size of 1–2 centimetres (0.39–0.79 in) after 6 months.
Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania. The parasite migrates to the internal organs such as the liver , spleen (hence " visceral "), and bone marrow , and, if left untreated, will almost always result in the death of the host.