There is currently no licensed vaccine against Leishmania and control measures rely on chemotherapy to alleviate disease and on vector control to reduce transmission.

A major vaccine development program aimed initially at cutaneous leishmaniasis is under way.

William leishmaniasis

The body's immune system apparently fails to battle the protozoa, which are free to spread throughout. The characteristic lesions resemble those of the dread biblical disease, leprosy.

Leishmaniasis is normally spread via the bite of a female sandfly in areas where Leishmaniasis is endemic.

Leishmaniasis is also spread by blood transfusion, sharing needles, sexually and congenitally.

The Leishmaniasis parasite has been proven to survive in stored blood for at least 30 days which is why the US Military and the CDC have a ban on donating blood for one year for persons returning from endemic countries, to include Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cutaneous Membrane