**2. Recall in the history of CL in Tunisia**

"*In Tunisia, CL was historically confined to the oasis of Gafsa and its surroundings (South‐West Tunisia) where the disease was typically sporadic and occasionally epidemic, particularly in French soldiers that camped in the Gafsa region in the late 19th century. This cutaneous affection was named 'clou de Gafsa'. In 1982, a CL outbreak occurred near the dam of Sidi Saad (Kairouan governorate, Central Tunisia) that had been just finished*" [2]. Over the next few years, the disease continued its contiguous spread to the western, eastern and southern parts of the country, leading to the emergence of several new foci every year [3]. Therefore, a notable increase in the inci‐ dence of CL cases was reported, ranging from 1 to 10 thousand new cases recorded annually depending on environmental changes and the pool of susceptible humans. This form of CL was identified to have a zoonotic transmission cycle.

To date, ZCL represents the dominant Tunisian CL form in terms of burden of disease, and it is mainly distributed over the central and southern arid and semiarid regions of the country, where is responsible for seasonal epidemics and regional outbreaks [4].
