cutaneous leishmaniasis

noun

plural cutaneous leishmaniases

: a common form of leishmaniasis that is caused by a parasitic protozoan (such as Leishmania tropica and L. major in the Old World and L. mexicana and L. braziliensis in the New World) and is marked by the formation of one or more enlarging, slowly-healing, skin lesions (as a papule or ulcer) which typically occur on an exposed part of the body (as the face or an arm or leg) and usually cause significant scarring

Physicians should consider the possibility of cutaneous leishmaniasis in persons with chronic skin lesions who have traveled to or been deployed within areas where leishmaniasis is endemic.

—Travel Medicine Advisor

compare visceral leishmaniasis

Examples of cutaneous leishmaniasis in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Another presentation at the conference described a risk assessment tool to promote better screening of dogs being imported to the U.S. One thing that seems certain is cutaneous leishmaniasis is no longer solely a tropical disease. —Simon Makin, Scientific American, 19 Oct. 2023

Eric DiVona awaits treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2004. —Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 4 Nov. 2011

The collapse of insect-control programs sparked the spread of cutaneous leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease that results in disfiguring skin ulcers. —Jerome Groopman, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1912, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

cutaneous leishmaniasis

noun

: a common form of leishmaniasis that is caused by a parasitic protozoan of the genus Leishmania (as L. tropica and L. major in the Old World and L. mexicana and L. braziliensis in the New World) and is marked by the formation of one or more enlarging, slowly-healing, skin lesions (as a papule or ulcer) which typically occur on an exposed part of the body (as the face or an arm or leg) and cause significant scarring

The histopathologic changes seen in cutaneous leishmaniasis are characterized by irregular acanthosis, with or without epidermal ulceration, and a dense dermal infiltrate of mixed inflammatory cells.

—Michael Royer and Mark Crowe, Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

Leishmaniasis is among the world's deadliest insect-borne parasitic diseases. Its most common form, cutaneous leishmaniasis, causes skin sores at the site of infection.

—Rachel Nuwar, The New York Times

see mucocutaneous leishmaniasis compare visceral leishmaniasis