Cluster of imported cutaneous leishmaniasis due to Leishmania major among travellers returning from central Tunisia, France, October 2025 to May 2026
Eurosurveillance·
- DOI
- 10.2807/1560-7917.es.2026.31.32.2600605
- PMID
- —
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W7203446269
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC)
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The reported cluster suggests potential changes in transmission intensity in central Tunisia and highlights the value of surveillance systems for detecting imported tropical infectious diseases in European clinical settings.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
This report describes an epidemiological investigation of an apparent increase in imported cutaneous leishmaniasis cases at a single French hospital over an eight-month period.
Study design
The investigation employed case identification at a university hospital laboratory combined with epidemiological interviews to establish travel history and exposure location among diagnosed patients.
Population and setting
Twenty-eight patients with confirmed L. major cutaneous leishmaniasis were identified at Toulouse University Hospital between October 2025 and May 2026, representing a notable increase from the fewer than three annual cases recorded at this facility from 2019 to 2024.
Main findings
Epidemiological investigation linked 24 of 28 cases to recent travel to Tunisia, with 19 patients specifically reporting exposure in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid, a region recognized as endemic for zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Public-health relevance
The reported cluster suggests potential changes in transmission intensity in central Tunisia and highlights the value of surveillance systems for detecting imported tropical infectious diseases in European clinical settings.
Important limitations
This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata; the original article is required for decision-grade interpretation. The report describes a case series from a single hospital rather than population-level surveillance, and the extent of underascertainment or testing practices during the baseline period is not addressed in the available text.
GIDS interpretation
This report illustrates how travel-related surveillance can identify changes in disease occurrence at destinations popular with European travellers. The described cluster represents a reporting of outbreak detection rather than confirmation of a surveillance signal or assessment of transmission risk.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 10 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.