Curriculum · Public Health and Communicable Diseases
Leishmaniasis
What it is
Leishmaniasis is transmitted by sandflies, and it comes in three types: cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral. With the exception of Australia, the Pacific Islands and Antarctica, the parasites have been identified throughout large portions of the world.
Causes and risk
Behind it lie human alteration of vector habitats, together with concomitant factors that increase susceptibility, such as infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and malnutrition. In the table of fever by incubation period, visceral leishmaniasis sits with the causes whose incubation period is more than 21 days, alongside tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, amebic liver abscess and filariasis. Malaria is no contrast here: it heads that same box, and it stands as well in the box of causes with an incubation period under 21 days. Dengue fever belongs to the shorter box alone.