Read more about this disease, some with Classification – Types – Signs and symptoms – Genetics – Pathophysiology – Diagnosis – Screening – Prevention – Treatment and management – Cures and much more, some including pictures and video when available.
Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly (subfamily Phlebotominae). Two genera transmit Leishmania to humans – Lutzomyia in the New World and Phlebotomus in the Old World.[1] The disease was named in 1901 after the Scottish pathologist William Boog Leishman. This disease is also known as Leichmaniosis, Leishmaniose, leishmaniose, and formerly, Orient Boils, Baghdad Boil, kala azar, black fever, sandfly disease, Dum-Dum fever or espundia.
Most forms of the disease are transmissible only from animals (zoonosis), but some can be spread between humans. Human infection is caused by about 21 of 30 species that infect mammals. These include the L. donovani complex with three species (L. donovani, L. infantum, and L. chagasi); the L. mexicana complex with 3 main species (L. mexicana, L. amazonensis, and L. venezuelensis); L. tropica; L. major; L. aethiopica; and the subgenus Viannia with four main species (L. (V.) braziliensis, L. (V.) guyanensis, L. (V.) panamensis, and L. (V.) peruviana). The different species are morphologically indistinguishable, but they can be differentiated by isoenzyme analysis, DNA sequence analysis, or monoclonal antibodies.
Visceral leishmaniasis is a severe form in which the parasites have migrated to the vital organs.
Leishmaniasis can be transmitted in many tropical and sub-tropical countries, and is found in parts of about 88 countries. Approximately 350 million people live in these areas. The settings in which leishmaniasis is found range from rainforests in Central and South America to deserts in West Asia. More than 90 percent of the world’s cases of visceral leishmaniasis are in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan, and Brazil.
Leishmaniasis is found through much of the Americas from northern Argentina to southern Texas, though not in Uruguay or Chile, and has recently been shown to be spreading to North Texas.[2] During 2004, it is calculated that some 3,400 troops from the Colombian army, operating in the jungles near the south of the country (in particular around the Meta and Guaviare departments), were infected with Leishmaniasis. Apparently, a contributing factor was that many of the affected soldiers did not use the officially provided insect repellent, because of its allegedly disturbing odor. It is estimated that nearly 13,000 cases of the disease were recorded in all of Colombia throughout 2004, and about 360 new instances of the disease among soldiers had been reported in February 2005.[3][4][5]
The disease is found across much of Asia, though not Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Within Afghanistan, leishmaniasis occurs commonly in Kabul- partly due to bad sanitation and waste left uncollected in streets, allowing parasite-spreading sand flies an environment they find favorable.[6][7] In Kabul the number of people infected is estimated at at least 200,000, and in three other towns (Herat, Kandahar and Mazar-i-Sharif) there may be about 70,000 more, according to WHO figures from 2002.[8]
Africa, in particular the East and North, is home to cases of Leishamaniasis. The disease is spreading to Southern Europe but is not found in Australia or Oceania.
Leishmaniasis is mostly a disease of the Developing World, and is rarely known in the developed world outside a small number of cases, mostly in instances where troops are stationed away from their home countries. Leishmaniasis has been reported by U.S. troops stationed in Saudi Arabia and Iraq since the Gulf War of 1990, including visceral leishmaniasis.[9][10][11] In September 2005 the disease was contracted by at least four Dutch marines who were stationed in Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan, and subsequently repatriated for treatment.
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