Brazil is one of the most important endemic areas for leishmaniasis worldwide. Protected areas that are tourist attractions likely present an important risk of transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Furthermore, with the geographical expansion of visceral leishmaniasis (VL), several studies have recorded the occurrence of its vector, Lutzomyia longipalpis, and cases of human and canine V...

Sánchez-Moreno,M., Gómez-Contreras, F., Navarro, P.,Marín, C., Ramírez-Macías, I., Rosales,M. J., Campayo, L., Cano, C., Sanz, A.M. and Yunta, M. J. R. Imidazole-containing phthalazine derivatives inhibit Fe-SOD performance in Leishmania species and are active in vitro against visceral and mucosal leishmaniasis. Parasitology. Published by Cambridge University Press, 31 March 2015. doi:10.1017/S...

Glutathione is the major intracellular antioxidant thiol protecting mammalian cells against oxidative stress induced by oxygen- and nitrogen-derived reactive species. In trypanosomes and leishmanias, trypanothione plays a central role in parasite protection against mammalian host defence systems by recycling trypanothione disulphide by the enzyme trypanothione reductase. Although Kinetoplastida...

Leishmaniases are serious parasitic diseases the etiological organisms of which are transmitted by insect vectors, phlebotominae sand flies. Two sand fly species, Phlebotomus papatasi and P. sergenti, display remarkable specificity for Leishmania parasites they transmit in nature, but many others are broadly permissive to the development of different Leishmania species. Previous studies have su...

Objective(s) Leishmania can lead to a broad spectrum of diseases, collectively known as leishmaniasis. The A2 gene/ protein family could be one of the most eligible candidate factors of virulence in visceral leishmaniasis (VL). The previous results confirmed that in Leishmania infantum, several A2 proteins are abundantly expressed by the amastigote, but not the promastigote stage. As there are...

The aims of the study were to determine the blood feeding preferences of sandflies and to identify species of Leishmania that infected phlebotomines in Caxias, Maranhão, Brazil, an area that is highly endemic for leishmaniasis. Sandflies were captured in light traps located in the peridomiciliary environments of randomly selected houses in urban and rural settings between 1800 and 0600 hours on...

Leishmania is a protozoan parasite belonging to the family Trypanosomatidae, which is found among 88 different countries. The parasite lives as an amastigote in vertebrate macrophages and as a promastigote in the digestive tract of sand fly. It can be cultured in the laboratory using appropriate culture media. Although the sexual cycle of Leishmania has not been observed during the promastigote...

Since 1980, there has been a burst of published reports describing the biochemistry of various human parasites. Interest in the biochemistry and molecular biology of the human parasites has increased greatly, in part because of the growing awareness of the morbidity and mortality they cause worldwide, especially in developing countries, and because of increased support for parasite research in ...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES In Portugal, Phlebotomus perniciosus and P. ariasi, (Subgenus Larroussius; Diptera: Psychodidae) are the proven vectors of leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania infantum. The Algarve Region in southern Portugal has been considered an endemic focus of leishmaniasis since 1980s. The main objective of the present study was to validate a molecular approach to detect Leishmania ...