Jorge Alvar, Iván Darío Vélez, Caryn Bern, Mercè Herrero et al.
As part of a World Health Organization-led effort to update the empirical evidence base for the leishmaniases, national experts provided leishmaniasis case data for the last 5 years and information regarding treatment and control in their respective countries and a comprehensive literature review wa...
Stephen Patterson, Susan Wyllie
•Two nitro drugs are currently used in the treatment of trypanosomatid diseases.•Several new nitroaromatics are being developed against the trypanosomatid diseases.•Many nitro drugs and drug candidates act as prodrugs which require bioactivation.•Nitroaromatics can have disparate mechanisms of actio...
Amy Pickard, Chansuda Wongsrichanalai, Anne Purfield, Deborah Kamwendo et al.
Resistance to antimalarial drugs is a public health problem worldwide. Molecular markers for drug-resistant malaria, such as pfcrt and pfmdr1 polymorphisms, could serve as useful surveillance tools. To evaluate this possibility, sequence polymorphisms in pfcrt (position 76) and pfmdr1 (positions 86,...
Durlav Prasad Bora
Kala-azar has re-emerged from near eradication. The annual estimate for the incidence and prevalence of kala-azar cases worldwide is 0.5 million and 2.5 million, respectively. Of these, 90% of the confirmed cases occur in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sudan. In India, it is a serious problem in Bihar...
Caryn Bern, Allen W. Hightower, Rajib Chowdhury, Mustakim Ali et al.
Since 1990, South Asia has experienced a resurgence of kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis). To determine risk factors for kala-azar, we performed cross-sectional surveys over a 3-year period in a Bangladeshi community. By history, active case detection, and serologic screening, 155 of 2,356 residents...
Jason L. Weirather, Selma M. B. Jerônimo, Shalini Gautam, Shyam Sundar et al.
The Leishmania species cause a variety of human disease syndromes. Methods for diagnosis and species differentiation are insensitive and many require invasive sampling. Although quantitative PCR (qPCR) methods are reported for leishmania detection, no systematic method to quantify parasites and dete...
Ali Khamesipour, Sima Rafati, Noushin Davoudi, Fereidoun Maboudi et al.
A vaccine against different forms of leishmaniasis should be feasible considering the wealth of information on genetics and biology of the parasite, clinical and experimental immunology of leishmaniasis, and the availability of vaccines that can protect experimental animals against challenge with di...
Anette Stauch, Ram Rup Sarkar, Albert Picado, Bart Ostyn et al.
BACKGROUND: In the Indian subcontinent, about 200 million people are at risk of developing visceral leishmaniasis (VL). In 2005, the governments of India, Nepal and Bangladesh started the first regional VL elimination program with the aim to reduce the annual incidence to less than 1 per 10,000 by 2...
Jane Cunningham, Epco Hasker, Pradeep Das, Sayda El Safi et al.
BACKGROUND: Poor access to diagnosis stymies control of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Antibody-detecting rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) can be performed in peripheral health settings. However, there are many brands available and published reports of variable accuracy. METHODS: Commercial VL RDTs conta...
Rhea N. Coler, Malcolm S. Duthie, Kimberly A. Hofmeyer, Jeffery Guderian et al.
Key antigens of Leishmania species identified in the context of host responses in Leishmania-exposed individuals from disease-endemic areas were prioritized for the development of a subunit vaccine against visceral leishmaniasis (VL), the most deadly form of leishmaniasis. Two Leishmania proteins-nu...
Debanjan Mukhopadhyay, Jane E. Dalton, Paul M. Kaye, Mitali Chatterjee
•Sodium antimony gluconate contributes towards the pathogenesis of PKDL.•UV light plays a pivotal role in the development of PKDL.•Development of PKDL can be viewed as a reinfection or activation of latent Leishmania parasites.•PKDL can be resolved by mounting an effective tissue-specific memory T c...
Susanne U. Franssen, Caroline Durrant, Olivia Stark, Bettina A. Moser et al.
Protozoan parasites of the Leishmania donovani complex – L. donovani and L. infantum – cause the fatal disease visceral leishmaniasis. We present the first comprehensive genome-wide global study, with 151 cultured field isolates representing most of the geographical distribution. L. donovani isolate...
Suman Rijal, Shyam Sundar, Dinesh Mondal, Pradeep Das et al.
\nSuman Rijal and colleagues highlight lessons from a regional collaboration to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis and identify priorities for the post-elimination plan
Dinesh Mondal, Caryn Bern, Debashis Ghosh, Masud Rashid et al.
BACKGROUND: On the Indian subcontinent, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) incidence is on track to reach elimination goals by 2020 in nearly all endemic districts. Although not included in official targets, previous data suggest post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) patients can act as an infection r...
Dinesh Mondal, Shri Prakash Singh, Narendra Kumar, Anand Joshi et al.
OBJECTIVE: We sought to estimate visceral leishmaniasis (VL) burden in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal and document care-seeking behaviour for VL to provide baseline information for monitoring the VL elimination program and identify options for improved case finding and management. DESIGN: A cross-sect...