Table 1.
Manifestation and geographical distribution of leishmaniasis types. Only incriminated vectors are included, but there are numerous suspected vectors.
| Leishmaniasis type | Manifestation | Pathogen | Sand fly vector species | Endemicity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cutaneous (the most common form of leishmaniasis) | Infections appear like any other skin lesion. | Old World: Leishmania major; L. tropica; L. aethiopica; L. infantum; L. donovani (CDC, 2020a) New World: L. mexicana; L. amazonensis; L. venezuelensis; L. infantum (syn. L. chagasi) |
Old World: Phlebotomus alexandri; Ph. arabicus; Ph. argentipes; Ph. longipes; Ph. martini; Ph. orientalis; Ph. papatasia; Ph. pedifer; Ph. sergentia New World: Lutzomyia anglesi; Lu. longipalpis; Lu. flaviscutella; Lu. nuneztovari; Lu. ovallesi; Lutzomyia group Olmeca |
Cutaneous infections are common in Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Syria (Rahman et al., 2014); 90% of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases occur in Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Syria (Soong, 2009). |
| Visceral (usually affects internal organs; also called kala-azar) | Fever, swelling of the liver and spleen, and anaemia. Fatality rate of 100% if not treated within two years (WHO, 2013a). | Old World: L. donovani; L. infantum New World: L. infantum (syn. L. chagasi) (CDC, 2020a) |
Old World: P. ariasi; P. argentipes; P. orientalis; P. perniciosus; Lu. cruzi; Lu. evansi; Lu. longipalpis | About 90% of cases occur in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nepal and Sudan (Thornton et al., 2010). Often transmitted in a peridomestic cycle in both the Old World (Bern et al., 2010; Rijal et al., 2019) and the New World (Sousa-Paula et al., 2020). |
| Mucocutaneous (Leishmania parasites may spread from the skin and cause sores in the mucous membranes of the nose). | Infection starts as a reaction at the bitten site and spreads into the mucous membrane; usually life-threatening. | L. infantum (syn. L. chagasi); L. braziliensis; L. (Viannia) panamensis; L. (V.) guyanensis; L. (Leishmania) amazonensis (CDC, 2020a) | Lu. wellcomei; Lu. carrerai; Lu. complexa; Lu. fischeri; Lu. gomezi; Lu. neivai; Lu. nuneztovari anglesi; Lu. ovallesi; Lu. panamensis; Lu. shawi; Lu. spinicrassa; Lu. whitmani; Lu. ylephiletor; Lu. yucumensis | About 90% of cases occur in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru (Casalle et al., 2020). It is almost always transmitted in a sylvatic transmission cycle. |
Note: Bold typeface indicates involvement in anthroponotic and peridomestic transmission.
a
Important in Syria.