Not exactly sure how a tropical disease made its way to the United States, but it has calmly and quietly become a threat in our country and the state of Texas. According to Scientific American, Cutaneous Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease that actually comes from some of the world's poorest people in the world and it’s caused by parasites spread by sandfly bites. Even though this particular disease is not considered fatal, it does leave dramatic skin lesions and the main symptoms and can bring out sorts of issues relating to not only depression but stigma.

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WHERE DOES THIS DISEASE COME FROM?

This tropical disease is endemic in the Middle East, Latin America, and also Asian Africa, and not until recently, it believed that now to be native to the United States with cases seen in Texas. Even though individuals who were victims of this particular disease, were presumed to have only contracted by, may be traveling out of the state of Texas, and returning from Mexico, it was really unheard of that anyone traveling outside the United States could catch the illness locally.

WHAT SHOULD TEXAS KNOW ABOUT CUTANEOUS LEISHMANIASIS?

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has noticed that people who haven’t traveled outside of the US were affected by that particular parasite, and had the parasite, but in a different form than for traveling individuals. Most of the sample strands come straight from Texas, and because of a lack of awareness of the otherwise, it makes it difficult to know exactly where to pinpoint where this disease is coming from. Raising awareness in the great state is definitely something we need to take more seriously so we can stop the spread now before it travels completely through all 50 states.