Dr. Kent Aftergut
Credit: UT Southwestern | ©UT Southwestern
Doctors Warn of Epidemic of Serious Skin Disease Leishmaniasis in North Texas
Doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a serious outbreak of an infectious skin disease in North Texas. The disease is called leishmaniasis. It is normally found in South America, Mexico and the Middle East, which is where it got the name Baghdad boil.
It has shown up in many members of the military who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. This current outbreak is the first time that the infection has appeared in the members of the general public who have not traveled to any of these areas.
This disease is not to be taken lightly. It causes nonhealing sores that resemble boils and can be the size of a half dollar or even larger, and they can last for 6 months to a year. It is often mistaken for a staph infection. Because of this, patients can be given standard antibiotics without them having any success.
It is caused by a single cell parasite with the name Leishmania. The only way to get a proper diagnosis is by doing special cultures.
So far the disease has been found in Waxahachie, Hillsboro and Glenn Heights, all of which are south of Dallas and Tom Bean, Anna, Savoy and Nevada, all north of Dallas as well as North Richland Hills.
They are alerting the doctors in North Texas to consider this to be an epidemic. So far the cases in North Texas have turned out to be of the less serious type of the disease, one that is called Leishmania mexicana. In this version of the disease, there are skin sores, but te infection does not spread and cover the whole body like some of the more serious species of the disease. It the patient has a normal immune system, the sores will usually go away in 6 to 12 months and the patient will not become sick.
The doctors in North Texas believe that the process begins when a sand fly bites a burrowing wood rat, which carries the parasite, which the sand fly gets the disease from. Then the sand fly later bites a person, and the sores develop.
It has shown up in many members of the military who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. This current outbreak is the first time that the infection has appeared in the members of the general public who have not traveled to any of these areas.
This disease is not to be taken lightly. It causes nonhealing sores that resemble boils and can be the size of a half dollar or even larger, and they can last for 6 months to a year. It is often mistaken for a staph infection. Because of this, patients can be given standard antibiotics without them having any success.
It is caused by a single cell parasite with the name Leishmania. The only way to get a proper diagnosis is by doing special cultures.
So far the disease has been found in Waxahachie, Hillsboro and Glenn Heights, all of which are south of Dallas and Tom Bean, Anna, Savoy and Nevada, all north of Dallas as well as North Richland Hills.
They are alerting the doctors in North Texas to consider this to be an epidemic. So far the cases in North Texas have turned out to be of the less serious type of the disease, one that is called Leishmania mexicana. In this version of the disease, there are skin sores, but te infection does not spread and cover the whole body like some of the more serious species of the disease. It the patient has a normal immune system, the sores will usually go away in 6 to 12 months and the patient will not become sick.
The doctors in North Texas believe that the process begins when a sand fly bites a burrowing wood rat, which carries the parasite, which the sand fly gets the disease from. Then the sand fly later bites a person, and the sores develop.
Comments
Kay W. Henderson
(Guest)
(Guest)
09/18/2007
Talk about perfect timing....I feel sure this is what a friend of mine from the Dallas area has. He developed a boil like spot on his forearm and he remembers being bit by something. Very informative article.
this is a really great article..something that we all need to know about..
Marcie Hascall Clark
(Guest)
(Guest)
09/15/2007
While the New World Cutaneous Leishmaniasis species such as Mexicana normally do not visceralize and attack the bones and organs, it is still a blood borne parasite.
This parasite can take up to twenty years to present symptoms in an otherwise healthy person. The parasite has been proven to live in stored blood for thirty days.
There is a ban on blood donations from persons traveling to Iraq and Afghanistan for this reason.
Leishmaniasis can be transmitted sexually, congenitally, and by blood transfusion or the sharing of needles.
There is NO sterile cure and treatment can be very toxic.
This parasite should be taken very seriously.
www.iraqinfections.org
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