Kala-Azar in infancy

Abstract

Although indigenous leishmaniasis does not occur in England, cases might be and in fact are, imported from endemic areas. Their very rarity make diagnosis more difficult unless the possibility of the disease and its main features are kept in mind. 'There is no essential difference between infantile and adult leishmaniasis. The parasite and the pathology are the same and it is more exact to speak of leishmaniqsis in infancy. Infection in infants is associated with canine leishmania- sis and is most prevalent in the Mediterranean area. In China older children are affected and in India and the Sudan, adults are attacked. There is no hard and fast rule, however, and it is quite possible for a baby to acquire the disease in an area where the adult form is prevalent. It is important to remember that leishmaniasis is not necessarily a tropical disease and that in Europe itself it could occur in any place south of the latitude of Paris.