1. Kala-azar: It is a type of leishmaniasis disease which occurs in all age-groups. There are three types of onset, gradual, sudden, or enteric. The fever is very irregular with peaks and remissions. The lives and spleen, but especially the spleen, become enlarged and the leishmaniasis disease becomes chronic. There is much loss of weight and anaemia, and the signs of malnutrition. Without treatment most patients die within 2 years.
2. Oriental sore: a chronic granulating sore of the skin, always on exposed parts of the body. Oriental sore type of leishmaniasis heals spontaneously in about 6 months. The patient is thereafter immune to further attacks. Secondary leishmaniasis infection should be treated with antibiotics and under medical supervision in hospital.
2. Espundia: this is also a sore, but it is ulcerative and involves mucous membrane as well as the skin. If not treated it can destroy part of the face of an affected person. Espundia type of leishmaniasis does not heal spontaneously.
Cause. There are three varieties of Leishmania as described above, but they are all caused by protozoon.
Source. Animals, especially the dog and wild rats, are the reservoirs of infection. As well as other human beings.
Leishmaniasis Route. The disease, in all its forms, is transmitted by the bite of the sandfly in the same way that malaria is transmitted by the bite of the mosquito. Kala-azar is common in the dry areas of Africa, and in some parts the sandflies breed in termite mounds.
Leishmaniasis Susceptibles. In Mediterranean countries, kala-azar is a disease mainly found in infants and small children under 5 years, but in other countries it is disease of children under 16 years, and of a few adults. The same applies to oriental sore.
