Leishmaniasis

This used to known as kala azar (from the Hindi kala, black and azar, poison). Leishmania is a type of trypanosome protozoa. It is transmitted by the phlebotomus sandfly (Greek word for vein is phleps and the Greek for cutting is tomos). Once in the bloodstream, the protozoa are taken up by macrophages where they continue their life-cycle until they are removed by the blood sucking sandflies for the next part of the cycle. Symptoms arise from the filling of the bone marrow by proliferating macrophages leading to anaemia, leucopenia, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy and a diurnal fever.