• Disease caused by any of a number of species of protozoa in the genus leishmania; there are four major clinical types of this infection: cutaneous (old and new world), diffuse cutaneous, mucocutaneous, and visceral; visceral is characterized by fever, chills, vomiting, anemia, hepatosplenomegaly, leukopenia, hypergammaglobulinemia, emaciation, and an earth-gray color of the skin; cutaneous is characterized by development of single or multiple localized lesions on exposed areas of skin that typically ulcerate.