LEISHMANIASIS

LEISHMANIASIS

<p align="CENTER"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>LEISHMANIASIS</b></span></span></span></p> <p align="JUSTIFY"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The different species of </span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Leishmania</i></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> are continuously in a state of flux due to the lack of easy means of differentiating species. Basically, there are three major groups of organisms: those which cause visceral disease, those which cause cutaneous lesions, and those which cause mucocutaneous lesions. The organisms causing visceral disease are species and various subspecies of </span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Leishmania donovani</i></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">. The organisms causing cutaneous leishmaniases in the Old World are </span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Leishmania tropica</i></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> (anthroponotic or urban cutaneous leishmaniasis with dry lesions), </span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Leishmania major</i></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> (zoonotic or rural cutaneous leishmaniasis with wet lesions), and </span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Leishmania aethiopica</i></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> (zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis of Kenya and Ethiopia with varied lesions). The organisms causing zoonotic cutaneous leishmani ases in the New World are </span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Leishmania braziliensis</i></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">, </span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Leishmania mexicana</i></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">, and </span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Leishmania peruviana</i></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">. The organisms causing mucocutaneous leishmaniases in the New World are typically due to species of </span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Leishmania braziliensis</i></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">. </span></span></span></p>