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The Mismatched Parasite
Published in Yamuna Deepani Siriwardana, Leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka, 2023
In Sri Lanka, Phlebotomus spp. sandflies have been identified since long. They are likely to be the potential vector of leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka. However, due to the anthroponotic nature of L. donovani and the appearance of large numbers of human infections in closely related communities within a short time, it is very likely that human-to-human transmission is the main mode of transmission of leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka.
Host Defenses Against Prototypical Intracellular Protozoans, the Leishmania
Published in Peter D. Walzer, Robert M. Genta, Parasitic Infections in the Compromised Host, 2020
Richard D. Pearson, Mary E. Wilson
In most areas, leishmaniasis is a zoonosis; that is, it is primarily a disease of animals, and humans are incidental hosts (3-6). The major exceptions are L. donovani infection in India, where no animal reservoir has been found, and possibly in East Africa; and cutaneous leishmaniasis due to L. tropica. Sandflies of Lutzomyia and Psychodopygus species transmit leishmania in the Western hemisphere. Phlebotomus species are responsible elsewhere.
Unexplained Fever In Infectious Diseases: Section 2: Commonly Encountered Aerobic, Facultative Anaerobic, And Strict Anaerobic Bacteria, Spirochetes, And Parasites
Published in Benedict Isaac, Serge Kernbaum, Michael Burke, Unexplained Fever, 2019
Bartonellosis (syn. Carrion’s disease) is caused by a small, motile aerobic Gram-negative bacillus, Bartonella bacilliformis. The disease is endemic in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. The organism invades the erythrocytes and reticuloendothelial cells. Various species of the sandfly vector, Phlebotomus, transmit the infection. There are two clinical forms: febrile (Oroya fever) and cutaneous (Verruga peruana). The former deserves a short mention because it may create problems of unexplained fever. After an incubation of approximately 20 days, or more, may appear a fever with shacking chills, malaise, headache, arthralgias, myalgias, changes in mentation, adenopathies, and severe anemia. Some critical forms may develop dyspnea, delirium, coma, and death. Intercurrent infections are common, especially salmonellosis, which may account for the prolongation of fever and adversely affect the prognosis. During the acute febrile stage, the organism may be identified on Giemsa-stained smears of the peripheral blood or by blood culture.80
The management of Babesia, amoeba and other zoonotic diseases provoked by protozoa
Published in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents, 2023
Clemente Capasso, Claudiu T. Supuran
Leishmania spp. have straightforward life cycles that require a mammalian host and a vector stage. Phlebotomine sandflies spread the parasite Leishmania in the Americas, while the genus Phlebotomus is involved in the other parts of the world [121]. Sandflies become infected by feeding on hosts with active skin lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis or with high parasitemia in the case of visceral leishmaniasis. Parasites become promastigotes in the sandfly midgut and multiply in 4–14 days [121]. These promastigotes travel to the salivary glands, become infectious metacyclic promastigotes, and await feeding. Sandflies inject infective promastigotes into susceptible mammals during eating. Resident phagocytes phagocytize promastigotes, which become tissue-stage amastigotes and divide in a parasitophorous vacuole. The amastigotes impede phagosome acidification, allowing them to persist within phagocytes. Depending on host and parasite parameters, the parasite infects more phagocytic cells at the site of cutaneous infection or in secondary lymphoid organs, causing parasitemia [121]. Leishmania species can stay hidden from the host immune system for years using their own special set of virulence mechanisms. Preventing the spread of the disease via sandflies is a top priority. Transmission can be considerably reduced if people stay inside between dark and dawn when sandflies are most active [122]. Topical insect repellents, bed nets, and clothing coated with permethrin are also efficient at keeping sandflies at bay. Residual household sprays have been used to minimize the prevalence of vectors in residential areas [122].
Understanding the economic impact of leishmaniasis on households in endemic countries: a systematic review
Published in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, 2019
Temmy Sunyoto, Marleen Boelaert, Filip Meheus
Leishmaniasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases (NTD) – also known as infectious diseases of poverty – with serious health and socioeconomic consequences [1]. Poor living conditions, malnutrition, conflicts and displacements, and immunosuppression have been associated with leishmaniasis [2–4]. Second only to malaria as the world’s largest parasitic killer, leishmaniasis is caused by an obligate protozoan parasite Leishmania sp and transmitted by the bite of infected female sand flies. The three main clinical manifestations of leishmaniasis are cutaneous (CL), which is the most common, visceral leishmaniasis (VL), which is fatal without treatment, and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL), which leads to the destruction of mouth, nose and throat’s mucous membranes. In Asia and Africa, transmission of the parasite (Leishmania donovani) is thought to be limited to humans only, while in the Mediterranean region and South America, VL caused by Leishmania infantum is zoonotic with the dog as the main reservoir host [5]. Post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) is a skin manifestation that appears months or years after successful VL treatment [6]. For CL and MCL, several transmission cycles exist, but all share the fact that the parasite is transmitted between the mammal species by a sand fly, genera Phlebotomus in the Old World and Lutzomyia in the New World.
Epidemiological and clinical features of visceral leishmaniasis in children in Alicante Province, Spain
Published in Paediatrics and International Child Health, 2018
Jose M. Ramos, Agustin Clavijo, Luis Moral, Cesar Gavilan, Tatiana Salvador, Javier González de Dios
Leishmaniasis is caused by the protozoan pathogen genus Leishmania. There are three major clinical forms: cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), mucocutaneous leishmaniasis and visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Although the disease is endemic in 98 countries, more than 90% of cases occur in just six countries: India, Bangladesh, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Brazil [1]. Georgia, Spain, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan are the most commonly affected countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region [1]. The Mediterranean region contributes only to 5–6% of the global burden of VL, which in Spain is hypo-endemic and caused by the protozoan Leishmania infantum [1]. The parasite is transmitted by the bite of an infected female sandfly of the phlebotomus genus (mainly Phlebotomus perniciosus) and is maintained in a zoonotic cycle, with dogs being the main reservoir [1–4].