00:00 A previously foreign disease has now made its home in the United States.
00:03 It's called Leishmania or Leishmaniasis and it's spread by the sandfly.
00:08 That insect generally lives in warmer climates closer to the equator, so American Leishmania
00:13 cases have usually been travelers returning from abroad.
00:16 But climate change is expanding the sandfly's habitat.
00:19 And as a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say Leishmania has a new strain
00:24 that's native to the US.
00:26 So far, domestic cases have been limited to a milder form of the disease, cutaneous leishmaniasis,
00:31 which can be disfiguring but doesn't tend to have other serious effects.
00:35 But a more severe version, visceral leishmaniasis, can be fatal.
00:39 And it could be carried into the country via dogs.
00:42 So scientists are recommending increased screening.
00:44 Dr. Gideon Wasserberg of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro told CNN that
00:49 people should use bug spray in warm rural areas and talk to their doctor about any suspicious
00:54 sores that don't seem to go away.
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