Leishmania Leishmania major Leishmania tropica Leishmania aethiopica

The sandfly (Phlebotomus) The sandfly is about 3 mm long. Transmission The sandfly (Phlebotomus) The sandfly is about 3 mm long.

Life Cycle

Sign of Infection Recent Sandfly Bites?? Small, red sore/papule?? Leishmania “Sufferin’ succotash. I’ve been sabotaged!!”

Infection Worsens Cutaneous Mucocutaneous Cutaneous Scars Jeepers!!!

Where Is Leishmania Located? major: Dark Maroon Africa Middle East Soviet Asia tropica: Pink Urban Middle East India aethiopica: Yellow Ethiopia Kenya

Leishmania major Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Found in sparsely inhabited regions. Papule ulcerates quickly, has a short duration, contains few amasigotes Most likely type to be found in canines

Leishmania tropica Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Found in more densely populated areas It’s lesion is dry Persist’s for month’s before ulcerating Contains many amistigotes

Leishmania aethiopica Old World Leishmania Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Kenya, Ethiopia

Preventing sandfly bites Insect repellent appropriate clothing screening of windows fine mesh netting around the bed Public health measures to reduce sandfly population Permethrin Aerosol Citronella Lotion “Varmint, I'm a-gonna blow you to smithereens!” Deet

Further Prevention Most cases heal without treatment, leaving the person immune to further infection. Resistance to drugs has been reported More toxic drugs—amphotericin Require long treatment regimes Becoming more ineffective Impossible to control with single approach or tool. Control depends on early detection and drug treatment Mass vaccinations with controlled infections showed promising results…programs ended when it was discovered that parasites persisted in immune hosts. Research is being done on mice for Leishmania major….influenced by another gene, Scl-1…controls healer and nonhealer phenotypes.

For Your Info. Cutaneous Leishmaniasis is often confused with Leprosy Leishmaniasis affects 88 countries worldwide There are 23 species of Leishmania Leishmaniasis is responsible for more than 80,000 deaths annually Males are more commonly infected