The effect of blood meals from humans and seven domestic, wild, or laboratory animals (dogs, horses, chickens, rats, opossums, mice, and hamsters) on the development of Leishmania braziliensis and L. amazonensis was studied in the sand fly Lutzomyia migonei. The development of L. braziliensis and L. amazonensis exhibited peripylarian and suprapylarian patterns of development, respectively, in t...

Natural products have long been providing important drug leads for infectious diseases. Leishmaniasis is a protozoan parasitic disease found mainly in developing countries, and it has toxic therapies with few alternatives. Fungal infections have been the main cause of death in immunocompromised patients and new drugs are urgently needed. In this work, a total of 16 plant species belonging to 11...

Studies were conducted from 1986 through 1993 to further define the geographic distribution and relative importance of different species of Leishmania as a cause of leishmaniasis in Peru. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of cutaneous and/or mucosal or diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis were enrolled at the Naval Medical Research Institute Detachment (NAMRID) Laboratory in Lima, the Tropical Dise...

This study evaluated the potential of a Leishmania antigen vaccine in protecting BALB/c mice against Leishmania chagasi. Mice received two subcutaneous doses of L. amazonensis vaccine with Corynebacterium parvum and subsequent boost was done without adjuvant. One week later, mice were challenged with L. chagasi. We observed that this vaccine caused a significant reduction in parasite load in li...

Despite recent advances in the treatment of some forms of leishmaniasis, the available drugs are still far from ideal due to inefficacy, parasite resistance, toxicity and cost. The wide-spectrum antimicrobial activity of 2-nitrovinylfuran compounds has been described, as has their activity against Trichomonas vaginalis and other protozoa. Thus, the aim of this study was to test the antileishman...

Introduction: leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania and considered endemic in 98 countries. Treatment with pentavalent antimonials has high toxicity, which motivates search for effective less toxic drugs. α- β-lapachones have shown different biological activities, including antiprotozoa. In recent studies, isonicotinoylhydrazone phthalazinylhydrazone groups were ...

Leishmania (V.) braziliensis and Leishmania(L.) amazonensis are the most pathogenic agents of American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Brazil, causing a wide spectrum of clinical and immunopathological manifestations, including: localized cutaneous leishmaniasis (LCLDTH+/++), borderline disseminated cutaneous leishmaniasis (BDCLDTH±), anergic diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (ADCLDTH-), and mucosal l...

INTRODUCTION Leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania . Cutaneous leishmaniasis is the most common form, with millions of new cases worldwide each year. Treatments are ineffective due to the toxicity of existing drugs and the resistance acquired by certain strains of the parasite. METHODS We evaluated the activity of sodium nitroprusside in macrophages in...

In this study, Leishmania species were identified by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The epidemiology of patients suspected of having American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in the municipality of Assis Brasil, Acre State, located in the Brazil/Peru/Bolivia tri-border was also investigated. By PCR, the DNA of Leishmania was detected in 100% of the cases (37 samples) and a PCR-Restriction Fragment Len...

Protozoa of the genus Leishmania are causative agents of leishmaniasis, an important health problem in both human and veterinary medicine. Here, we describe a new heat shock protein (HSP) in Leishmania, belonging to the small HSP (sHSP) family in kinetoplastids. The protein is highly conserved in different Leishmania species, showing instead significant divergence with sHSP's from other organis...