Leishmania is a genus of Trypanosomatid protozoa, and is the parasite responsible for the disease leishmaniasis. It is spread through sandflies of the genus Phlebotomus in the Old World, and of the genus Lutzomyia in the New World. Their primary hosts are vertebrates; Leishmania commonly infects hyraxes, canids, rodents, and humans. Leishmania currently affects 12 million people in 88 countries.
The parasite was named in 1903 after the Scottish pathologist William Boog Leishman.
Read more about Leishmania: Origin, Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Lipophosphoglycan Coat, Pathophysiology, Treatment, Molecular Biology, Genomics, Leishmania As Component of CVBD