Human cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania naiffi is wide-spread in South America.

Four human cases of localized cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania naiffi are reported. Two of the cases were infected in French Guiana, one in French Guiana or Martinique, and the other in Ecuador or Peru. The geographical distribution of L. naiffi is clearly larger than that initially reported. Three zymodemes were represented by the four isolates, confirming that there is intraspecific polymorphism in L. naiffi.