Leishmania mexicana belongs to the Leishmania genus and is the causal agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Mexico and central America. Leishmania mexicana is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that causes the cutaneous form of leishmaniasis. This species of Leishmania is found in America. The infection with L. mexicana occurs when an individual is bitten by an infected sandfly that injects infective promastigotes, which are carried in the salivary glands and expulsed by the proboscis, directly to the skin.