Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by leishmania parasites. It is transmitted by the bite of sand fly. Most often the disease is transmissible from animals (zoonosis). South-west Ethiopia, has both the cutanous form and the visceral form of the disease.
The picture shows a boy with cutaneous leishmaniasis from Ochollo. Ochollo is about 35 km north of Arba Minch, and is a place were people live in close contact the hyrax, the animal that is the reservoir of the disease.
Visceral leishmaniasis is a severe form in which the parasites have migrated to the organs such as the spleen, liver and bone marrow. It is endemic in the lowlands.
Arba Minch Hospital has a research centre for leishmaniasis where they do clinical trials for new drugs for visceral leishmaniasis.