Visceral leishmaniasis with pericarditis in an HIV-infected patient

The clinical presentation of visceral leishmaniasis, or kala-azar, is variable but usually includes fever, severe cachexia, lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly. In immunocompromised patients the clinical course of the disease is even less specific and the diagnosis is often made by means of incidental detection of the parasites at atypical sites such as the gastrointestinal tract, peripheral blood, lungs and cerebrospinal fluid. We describe a case of pericardial leishmaniasis in an HIV-infected patient.