Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, Northern Afghanistan

摘要

To the Editor: In Afghanistan,most cutaneous leishmaniasis casesare caused by Leishmania tropica,which is transmitted anthroponotical-ly by the sandfly Phlebotomus sergen-ti (1). Cutaneous leishmaniasis canhave devastating effects on local com-munities because of its clinical symp-toms, i.e., large, multiple, or both, dis-figuring lesions, that can lead to socialostracism of affected persons (e.g.,women are often deemed unsuitablefor marriage or to raise children) (2).Cutaneous leishmaniasis is consid-ered a low priority disease by interna-tional donor agencies because treat-ment costs are high and the diseasedoes not cause death (3).