Visceral
Leishmaniasis
Collin Price
Spring 2011
Visceral Leishmaniasis – also known as
Kala Azar – is a systemic disease that primarily
affects the liver, spleen, and bone marrow
Symptoms of VL include hepatosplenomegaly,
high fever, anemia, and weight loss
Like every disease we have studied, visceral
Leishmaniasis is a disease of the poor
 http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/photogallery/2011/11india/image001.jpg
VL is endemic in 88 countries, with 90% of cases
occurring in Brazil, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sudan.
The causal agent is a protozoan of genus Leishmania related to organisms causing Sleeping Sickness,
Chagas, and Malaria
Leishmaniasis is transmitted via a blood sucking sand
fly of the species
Phlebotominae
Look familiar?
Proteins on the surface of the promastigote
allow the organism to escape lysis by the
complement system
Once inside the macrophage, the protozoan
relies on a trans-membrane pump to acquire
iron for metabolism
The best way to diagnose infection with
Leishmaniasis is visualization of the amastigotes
in blood or aspirates from infected tissue
http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/parasit06/paraav/images/10-21.jpg
Classically, therapy has involved treatment with
antimonial compounds
Miltefosine might be the answer, with a 95%
cure rate!
35 Countries around the world have reported
cases of VL/HIV co-infection
http://www.who.int/leishmaniasis/burden/hiv_c
oinfection/en/leishmaniasis_hiv_countries.gif
Rescue in Sudan
“Where else in the world could 50% of the population die without anyone knowing?”
-Dr. Jill Seaman
REFERENCES
 Pictures
 http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/305800/enlarge (SEM)
 http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/archives/NSEP/Brazil2002/leishmania/Images/Leish91.jpg
 http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/archives/NSEP/Brazil2002/leishmania/Images/Leish91.jpg
 http://www.who.int/leishmaniasis/leishmaniasis_maps/en/index.html
 http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phlebotomus_pappatasi_bloodmeal_begin.jpg
 http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/journal/v5/n11/images/nrmicro1748-f3.jpg
 http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/photogallery/2011/11india/image001.jpg
 http://microbeworld.org/images/stories/twip/l_donovani.jpg
 http://www.stanford.edu/group/parasites/ParaSites2010/Zach_Wettstein/Development%20
of%20Drugs%20for%20the%20Treatment%20of%20Visceral%20Leishmaniasis.html
 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BVAT0FI3vWo/TGf539li0eI/AAAAAAAAAvI/0ReeaJ6VY78/s160
0/Leishmania_tropica_7.jpg
 http://animal.discovery.com/invertebrates/monsters-inside-me/cutaneous-leishmaniasis-
leishmania/images/cutaneous-leishmaniasis-leishmania.jpg
REFERENCES
 Information
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visceral_leishmaniasis#cite_note-Dowell1997-38
 Amanda C Stanley1 and Christian R Engwerda1. Balancing immunity and pathology in visceral
leishmaniasis. Immunology and Cell Biology (2007) 85, 138–147. doi:10.1038/sj.icb.7100011;
published online 5 December 2006
 http://biology-today.com/general-zoology/invertebrate-zoology/structure-of-leishmania/
 Alison M. Shakarian, Glen C. McGugan, Manju B. Joshi, Mary Stromberg, Lauren Bowers,
Christine Ganim, Jessica Barowski and Dennis M. Dwyer. Identification, characterization, and
expression of a unique secretory lipase from the human pathogen Leishmania donovani. Molecular
and Cellular Biochemistry. Volume 341, Numbers 1-2, 17-31
 Emanuela Handman. Leishmaniasis: Current Status of Vaccine Development. Clin. Microbiol. Rev.
April 2001 14:229-243.
 Christian R Engwerda, Paul M Kaye, Organ-specific immune responses associated with
infectious disease, Immunology Today,Volume 21, Issue 2, 1 February 2000, Pages 73-78
 J Román Luque-Ortega, José M Saugar, Cristina Chiva, David Andreu, Luis Rivas. Identification
of new leishmanicidal peptide lead structures by automated real-time monitoring of changes in
intracellular ATP. Biochem. J. (2003) 375 (221-30)