The Leishmaniases are a group of diseases caused by the genus Leishmania of the
family: Trypansomatidae. They are transmitted by the female sand flies of the genus
phlebotomus in the Old World and lutzomyia in the New World. The clinical forms in
man include visceral leishmaniasis (VL), post kala-azar dermal leshmaniasis (PKDL),
diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL), mucocutaneous (MCL), self-healing cutaneous
(CL). VL is the most serious and is fatal if not treated (El- Hassan & El- Hassan, 1997;
Zijlstra & El-Hassan, 2001a; Zijlstra et al., 2001b; Musa et al., 2002).
VL is caused by Leishmania donovani in the Old World, L.infantum in the
Mediterranean basin and L.chagasi in the New World. It is characterized by
development of fever, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, weight loss and pancytopenia.
Often complications occur such as epistaxis or bleeding from other sites, and concurrent
infections (Zijlstra & EL-Hassan, 2001a).