Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026
06:57
In Vivo Infection with Leishmania amazonensis to Evaluate Parasite Virulence in Mice
Published on: February 20, 2020
Visceral leishmaniasis in eastern Africa--current status
Richard Reithinger1, Simon Brooker, Jan H Kolaczinski
1Westat, Rockville, USA.
Summary
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a neglected tropical disease causing thousands of deaths in Eastern Africa. Increased funding is crucial to deploy existing interventions and strengthen health systems for effective VL control.
Area of Science:
- Neglected tropical diseases
- Public health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) disproportionately affects impoverished populations in Eastern Africa.
- The disease results in significant annual mortality (at least 4000 deaths) and disability-adjusted life years (approx. 385,000).
- Underlying causes contribute to chronicity, suggesting a future increase in VL caseloads.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the urgent need for resource allocation towards visceral leishmaniasis control.
- To emphasize the underutilization of existing effective interventions for VL.
- To advocate for strengthening health systems to combat VL in at-risk populations.
Main Methods:
- This study is a review and analysis of the current state of visceral leishmaniasis control in Eastern Africa.
- It synthesizes data on disease burden, existing interventions, and health system challenges.
- The analysis focuses on the gap between available tools and their deployment.
Main Results:
- Visceral leishmaniasis remains a critical public health issue in Eastern Africa, with substantial human and economic costs.
- Despite the availability of effective control measures, their implementation is severely limited.
- Existing interventions are rarely deployed due to insufficient funding and weak health infrastructure.
Conclusions:
- Urgent financial investment is required to procure necessary commodities for VL control.
- Strengthening regional health systems is essential for the effective delivery of VL interventions.
- Immediate action is needed to deploy existing tools and mitigate the growing burden of visceral leishmaniasis.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is a protozoal disease caused by species of the genus Leishmania and transmitted through the bite of infected female sandflies. The parasite exists in two principal morphological forms during its life cycle. A sandfly acquires intracellular amastigotes from an infected reservoir host, such as a dog. Within the sandfly, these forms differentiate into motile, flagellated promastigotes. During a subsequent blood meal, promastigotes are injected into the human host, where they...
01:21Antiprotozoal Agents
Leishmaniasis is a widespread parasitic disease caused by several Leishmania species. It affects millions of people each year and remains a major public health problem in endemic regions. First-line treatment relies on pentavalent antimonials, including meglumine antimoniate and sodium stibogluconate. Even so, how these drugs work has not been fully clear, especially their interaction with parasite-specific biochemical pathways. One key target is trypanothione reductase (TR), an enzyme that...
01:22American Trypanosomiasis
Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is a vector-borne parasitic infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a flagellated protozoan (kinetoplastid) of the family Trypanosomatidae. The disease is endemic in Latin America, although cases are increasingly reported worldwide due to human migration. Transmission most commonly occurs when feces of infected triatomine bugs contaminate bite wounds or mucosal surfaces; additional routes include congenital, transfusional, transplant-related, and oral...
01:28Amebiasis
Entamoeba histolytica, a protozoan parasite, is responsible for intestinal and extraintestinal amebiasis. Though a significant proportion of infections remain asymptomatic, approximately 50 million individuals annually are estimated to present with clinical disease, resulting in up to 100,000 deaths globally. The disease burden is disproportionately high in regions with lower socioeconomic status, such as parts of India, Africa, Mexico, and Latin America.Etiology and TransmissionThe infective...
01:29Malaria
Malaria pathogenesis in humans reflects a delicate interplay between parasite biology and host response. Clinical illness reflects a host’s immune response to the parasite’s asexual replication cycle, which is often asymptomatic in individuals with partial immunity. From the parasite's perspective, transmission between mosquito and human with minimal host pathology is evolutionarily advantageous. Among the six Plasmodium species infecting humans, P. falciparum and P. vivax dominate in global...
01:28Toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis, a zoonotic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, poses significant public health challenges globally due to its high seroprevalence and varied clinical manifestations. As an obligate intracellular parasite, T. gondii can infect all warm-blooded vertebrates, but felids are its only definitive hosts, shedding unsporulated oocysts into the environment. Humans typically acquire the infection through ingestion of tissue cysts in undercooked meat or oocysts from...