American tegumentary leishmaniasis is endemic to the Espírito SantoNorthern Espírito Santo was covered by Atlantic Forest until the mid-20 th century, and American tegumentary leishmaniasis does not appear to have constituted a serious public health problem for the original settlers. Furthermore, there are no records of cases of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis resulting from old infections with Leishmania braziliensis in the region.Beginning in the 1980s, the suspension of insecticide use for malaria control may have favored invasion of houses by sand flies and coincided with the appearance of the first American tegumentary leishmaniasis cases in northern Espírito Santo. The study area was selected in order to obtain information to help elucidate the American tegumentary leishmaniasis epidemiological profile in the region, where human cases have been observed for about 20 years. A total of 2,132 cases were reported from 1986 to 2003 5 .NOTA RESEARCH NOTE