Leishmania

(lesh-man'J-ah) [Sir William B. Leishman.] genus of protozoans of the family Herpetomonidce; found as small oval protoplasmic ma es, with trophonuclei and kinetonuclei, in the endothelial cells, leucocytes, and blood of mammals, developing into flagellate organisms in ctiltures. L. donova'ni, Leishman-Donovan body; a minute oval or pisiform body in one stage, elongated and flagellated in another, found in the endothelial cells of the capillaries of the liver, spleen, lymphatic glands, bone marrow, and intestinal mucosa, and more rarely in the blood, in cases of kala-azar. L. furunculo'sa, L. tropic a. L. infan'tum, species morphologically indistinguishable from L. donovani, found in the liver, spleen, bone marrow, and peripheral blood in dogs and in children suffering from canine and infantile kala-azar respectively. L. trop'ica, L. fwunculo'sa, Helcosoma iropicum, a species morphologically very similar to L. donovani, the cause of oriental sore. L. trop'ica var. america'na, a variety with flattened nucleus, found in cases of espundia.