LEISHMANIA AETHIOPICA

An African species of Leishmania responsible for human cutaneous leishmaniasis in Ethiopia, with a reservoir of human infection in the rock hyraxes, Procavia capensis and Heterohyrax brucei, and in Kenya, with reservoirs in the wood hyrax, Dendrohyrax arboreus, and the giant rat, Cricetomys gambianus; vectors are the sandflies Phlebotomus longpipes and P. Pedifer. It causes a cutaneous leishmaniasis of three types: classical oriental sore, mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, and diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis; ulceration is late or absent and healing takes one to three years.