Leishmaniasis, mexicana - lesion on the cheek

Parasites are deposited in the skin by the bite of a sand-fly. These parasites (leishmania) produce a local sore at the site of the bite and migrate throughout the body, causing tissue destruction at distant sites.

Review Date: 08/28/2009
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.