In foci of urban or dry cutaneous leishmaniasis, which is anthroponotic. Reservoir primarily humans, but dogs also get the disease by chance. The main centers of this disease in Iran are the cities of Kerman, Bam, Mashhad, Tehran, Neyshabur, Shiraz and Kashan.

In rural or wet cutaneous leishmaniasis, which is a zoonosis, the reservoir of the disease is mainly rodents, the most important of which in Iran is the gerbil Rhombomis opimus (central and northeastern centers, western and southern regions of the country).

Also Meriones libicus (Isfahan, Sistan and Baluchistan, Kerman, Fars, Khuzestan, Tehran, Qazvin, Kurdistan, Azerbaijan and Khorasan), Meriones Horianae (Sistan and Baluchistan), Tatra indica (Ilam and Khuzestan) and Nesokia indica (Khuzestan and Isfahan) ), are considered as reservoirs in Iran. Humans are accidental hosts in this cycle of zoonosis.

Currently, about 12 million people in about 98 countries are infected with Leishmania. Every year, nearly 2 million new cases are infected with this disease and between 20,000 and 50,000 people die as a result. About 200 million people in Asia, Africa, South and Central America, and Southern Europe are suffering from this disease. Leishmania is common in the mentioned areas.