Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: The Truth about the 'Flesh-Eating Disease' in Syria.
Recent news headlines claimed that corpses thrown into Syrian streets are causing cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) outbreaks. However, leishmaniasis is only transmitted by blood-feeding sandflies, not through human remains. High CL prevalence in Syria may instead be attributed to the absence of disease control programs due to the disruption of health services.
Department of Parasitology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK. Electronic address: Karina.MondragonShem@lstmed.ac.uk.
Karina
K
Mondragon-Shem
Department of Parasitology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK; Department of Vector Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK. Electronic address: alvaro.acosta-serrano@lstmed.ac.uk.
Alvaro
A
Acosta-Serrano
D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control; D006296:Health Services / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission*; D015995:Prevalence; D011576:Psychodidae / Q000469:parasitology; D013593:Syria
Middle East; Syria conflict; cutaneous leishmaniasis; disease outbreak; neglected disease; sandflies