A parasitic disease caused by different species of the genus <i>Leishmania</i>, transmitted through the bite of hematophagous female phlebotomine sand flies. The clinical spectrum ranges from asymptomatic to clinically overt disease which can remain localized to the skin or disseminate to the upper oral and respiratory mucous membranes or throughout the reticulo-endothelial system. Three main clinical syndromes have been described: visceral (or Kala-Azar; with fever, weight loss, hepatosplenomegaly), cutaneous, and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (cutaneous or mucocutaneous ulceration).

Characteristic neurologic anomaly resulting form degeneration of dopamine-generating cells in the substantia nigra, a region of the midbrain, characterized clinically by shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty with walking and gait.