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Dermatologists in North Texas were alerted Friday to be on the lookout for a rare skin infection caused by a parasite that may have migrated north from the Mexican border. The disease, leishmaniasis, typically causes a half-dollar-sized boil that takes six to 12 months to heal. It is not considered life-threatening. Doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center said they have identified nine cases of the skin disease in North Texans in recent months. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that all nine people, both adults and children, were infected by the parasite, Leishmania mexicana. Typically found in Mexico...

Baghdad Boil to Return? By Roger Bate It's heating up in the Southern Iraqi desert and sand flies are returning. They bring with them "Baghdad Boil," a nasty disease, more properly known as cutaneous leishmaniasis. They go about their ghastly business of extracting a blood meal and laying its eggs in human skin. In the previous 12 months there have been over 650 cases of the disease. Poor planning, imprudent regulations and military incompetence mean the Boil will be worse this summer than it otherwise should. It is unfortunate that young men, fighting for their country and being shot at...

By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON - Staff Sgt. Eric DiVona didn't notice the small bumps on his face and left earlobe until he returned from serving nine months in Iraq (news - web sites). Nothing much, he thought, probably just a spider bite. But soon those bumps erupted into open sores, one growing to the size of a half dollar. AP Photo   What DiVona thought was a spider bite was actually caused by a tiny sand fly with a fierce parasite stewing in its gut, an organism that causes stubborn and ugly sores that linger for months. The...

Why can't the U.S. military keep ahead of the Baghdad Boil? EASTERN TURKEY — With nearly 600 confirmed cases of "Baghdad Boil" among U.S. troops, medical experts are wondering what can done to contain the disease. Military forecasts only a few weeks ago said there wouldn't be more than 400 cases by the end of April. So what is going wrong? The military cannot claim that it is a new problem; after all, during Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait in 1991 there were 34 cases of Baghdad Boil, more correctly known as Leishmaniasis. Medical experts within the military claim...