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NEWS
Author(s) -
Dougall, Annette,
Holt, Deborah
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
australian veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1751-0813
pISSN - 0005-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-0813.2011.news_v89_i9.x
Subject(s) - citation , computer science , information retrieval , library science , world wide web
Leishmaniasis is a well-documented disease of humans and animals worldwide. In humans, leishmaniasis is generally zoonotic with a number of different clinical manifestations ranging from single or multiple skin lesions (cutaneous leishmaniasis) to destruction of the mucosae, including the soft cartilage of the nasal septum (mucocutaneous leishmaniasis) or systemic infections of the liver and spleen (visceral leishmaniasis). The disease is caused by the single-celled, flagellate protozoan parasites Leishmania. Over 20 species of Leishmania are known to cause leishmaniasis in humans and other animals. The Leishmania parasite maintains a complex life cycle which involves a reservoir host (often asymptomatic), and a phlebotomine sand fly vector. In the mammalian reservoir host, Leishmania parasites exist as intracellular amastigotes within macrophages. However, in the sand fly gut and in vitro culture, they are extracellular, flagellate promastigotes