Right-wing website Breitbart is doing their best to increase Republican paranoia about leishmaniasis. According to a recent article, Syrian refugees are covered in a contagious skin-eating bacteria. They state the disease can be dormant for years before it begins to rot the flesh. In other words, allowing even apparently healthy refugees into the country means certain doom. Despite the fact that there has not been a single case of a Syrian in the United States with the condition, they still are issuing the alarm.
There are several problems with this latest scare tactic. The disease is an ailment that has existed for centuries in Syria. Only the cutaneous form of the condition is found in Syria and it is not actually flesh-eating. The Syrian strain causes infected boils at the site of a sand fly bite and like any infection, it can spread and become deadly if not treated.
Various strains affect poverty stricken tropical communities around the world. However, lack of health care has been the problem. It only requires a few injections of a drug called amphotericin B directly into the affected spot. This medication has only flu-like side effects. American soldiers stationed in the Middle East have been returning home infected with leishmaniasis for decades, and have not caused an outbreak.
Leishmaniasis is caused only by a sand fly bite. It cannot be passed from human to human. Infected flies are found in tropical areas, and cannot survive in colder climates. It would seem the Republicans are so desperate to scare people into refusing Syrian refugees, they are happy to twist facts. Especially if those “facts” can make homeless women and children seem scary. The reality is, people who vacation in tropical climates are more at risk of contracting the disease than anyone hosting a refugee family.
