Clinical Features:

• Group of protozoal infestations prevalent in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Mediterranean
• Various clinical forms exist, including cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis, with different species responsible for the various presentations.
• Dogs, cats and rodents serve as reservoirs, and the vector is the sandfly.

Histologic Features:

• Cutaneous lesions show infiltrates of histiocytes containing groups of the organism within the dermis.
• The intracellular leishmanial amastigotes range from 1 to 3 μm in diameter and contain a round nucleus and adjacent transverse bar-like kinetoplast (sometimes difficult to visualize).
• The kinetoplast is a useful feature in distinguishing leishmaniasis from histoplasmosis, which also shows multiple small organisms within hitiocytes.
• Giemsa stains the nucleus purple and the kinetoplast bright red or red-purple.
• Ulceration with peripheral pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia may occur.
• If organisms cannot be identified histologically, the diagnosis can be made using culture or PCR, with PCR having greater sensitivity.

External Links:

• Dermnet NZ
• Wikipedia

Cases associated with this book:

Leishmaniasis
Author: Artur Zembowicz M.D. Ph.D.

Conference: DermatopathologyConsultations.com Teaching Collection