Leishmania

Leishmania () is a genus of parasitic protozoans, single-celled eukaryotic organisms of the trypanosomatid group that are responsible for the disease leishmaniasis. The parasites are transmitted by sandflies of the genus Phlebotomus in the Old World, and of the genus Lutzomyia in the New World. There are 53 species and about 20 of them are responsible for human infections. They are transmitted by around 100 species of sandflies. The primary hosts are vertebrates. They commonly infect hyraxes, canids, rodents, and humans.

==History== Members of an ancient genus of Leishmania-like parasites, Paleoleishmania, have been detected in fossilized sand flies dating back to the early Cretaceous period. The first written reference to the conspicuous symptoms of cutaneous leishmaniasis surfaced in the Paleotropics within oriental texts dating back to the 7th century BC (allegedly transcribed from sources several hundred years older, between 1500 and 2000 BC). Due to its broad and persistent prevalence throughout antiquity as a mysterious disease of diverse symptomatic outcomes, leishmaniasis has been dubbed with various names ranging from "white leprosy" to "black fever". Some of these names suggest links to negative cultural beliefs or mythology, which still feed into the social stigmatization of leishmaniasis today.