Leishmaniasis

My husband has Leishmaniasis that was not diagnosed and thought I'd share a few things.

He was in a bomb blast in Iraq. He had reconstructive surgery on his LL leg which was healing very well. All the seams were closed. It was three weeks later that I noticed places where I had cleaned up the eschar it was coming back. At the same time an open wound was turning all granulatomous.

His Ortho trauma surgeon cleaned it all out in surgery and yelled at me about all that "stuff" he had to clean up. I'm terrified that my husband will lose this leg and he calls it "stuff", has no idea what it is. Of course it did not culture.

My husband still has this all around the reconstructed leg along with blistery rashed on his scalp that come and go. It has been almost six years with a bug the military claims will clear up on it's own within a few months.

Leishmaniasis is quite variable and can present in many ways. The cutaneous strains are visceralizing.

I've found that you nurses are our first line of defense in identifying unusual events. It is almost always a nurse who tells Acinetobacter baumannii patients and their families what they are dealing with.

Your efforts are much appreciated.

Marcie Hascall Clark