ROY AL SOCIETY OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE

Leishmania tropica), but a link between ACL and lhe phlebotominesandtly vectors goes back as far as 1764, when there was a writJen account implicating sandflies in lhe transmission of "uta" (Leishmania braziliensis peroviana) by a gentleman named Cosme Bueno (see HERRER & CHRISTENSEN, 1975). Proof of lhe nature of lhe aetiological agents of ACL was not forthcoming, however, until1909, when LINDENBERG and CARINI & PARANHOS independently demonstrated amastigotes of Leishmania in human skin lesions in Brazil; and VIANNA (1911) later referred to the parasite as L. braziliensis. After this date, studies on lhe leishmaniases in lhe Americas were for a long time limited to case-reports of the cutaneous and mucocutaneous disease, principa11y by physicians who were largely interested in the clinical aspects. From these reports, however, lhe fact did emerge that ACL extended from Mexico in lhe north down to Argentina in lhe south: furthermore, it became obvious that lhe various forms of lhe disease were mostly associated with lhe forested regions and that they almost certainly represented zoonoses. From lhe early 1950s onwards, there began a search for lhe reservoirs and vectors of lhe different neotropicalleishmanias. Much has subsequently been writ-