Five Cases of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a self-limited infection of the skin caused by Leishmania tropica, a protozoan parasite transmitted by Phlebotomus sandfly. This disease is endemic in tropical and subtropical zone, but recently many cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis were reported in Korean among the peoples who had been worked in the Middle East. We experienced five cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis developed in Korean who had been worked in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Skin lesions of various sized, central ulcerated and marginal elevated, with serosanguinous discharge and some crust were scattered on exposed area, especially both extremities. Histopathologic findings showed hyperkeratosis, acanthosis, pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia, dermal infiltration of histiocytes, lymphocytes, plasma cells and neutrophils, and numerous Leishman-Donovan bodies in and around histiocytes. About 1-4 months treatment with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and metronidazole, two cases were healed with hyperpigmented scar and two cases were improved but one case was not responded.