Calcified bodies in new world cutaneous leishmaniasis

Abstract

We report a case of a 9-year-old boy who presented with 2 lesions that were compatible clinically with cutaneous leishmaniasis of the New World. A skin biopsy showed tuberculoid granulomas with rounded calcified bodies. The diagnosis was supported by a positive leishmanin test and a positive polymerase chain reaction. The patient responded to specific treatment for leishmaniasis. These calcified bodies, described under different names in the literature (Michaelis-Gutmann bodies, Schaumann bodies, psammoma bodies, or conchoidal bodies), have been reported in an experimental leishmaniasis and, only once before, in a case of human leishmaniasis of the Old World.