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DOI: 10.4103/ajm.AJM_145_17
Chiclero's ulcer: An unusual presentation of Leishmania tropica in Syria
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Abstract
Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) has been an endemic disease in Syria for decades. The first reports of CL from the Syrian city Aleppo date back to the 17th century. The recent crisis has further empowered the spread of this infection not only in Syria, but also in the neighboring countries. Here, we describe a case of a 67-year-old patient with a 6-month, nonhealing ulcerative lesion of the left auricle. It was initially diagnosed as either a squamous or a basal cell carcinoma. However, the biopsy revealed an unexpected finding of Leishmania amastigotes in the histiocytes. Consequently, CL of the auricle, chiclero's ulcer, was diagnosed. Polymerase chain reaction, in turn, revealed Leishmania tropica to be the causing factor; a rather rare one for chiclero's ulcer. The lesion completely resolved after a 3-week glucantime regimen, without any recurrence after an 8-month follow-up.
Publication History
Article published online:
12 August 2021
© 2018. Syrian American Medical Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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