The aim of this work is the in vitro and ex vivo assessment of the leishmanicidal activity of camptothecin and three analogues used in cancer therapy: topotecan (Hycantim®), gimatecan (ST1481) and the pro-drug irinotecan (Camptosar®) as well as its active metabolite SN-38 against Leishmania infantum. The activity of camptothecin and its derivatives was studied on extracellular L. infantum infra...

background : miltefosine is a new drug of choice for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis. numerous experi­mental studies have shown miltefosine is effective on leishmania donovani , however, effectiveness of miltefos­ine in treatment of l. infantum is not fully understood. the aims of the present study were to evaluate cytotoxic effects of miltefosine on iranian strain of l. infantum , and ...

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a widely spread zoonotic disease. In Brazil the disease is caused by Leishmania (Leishmania)infantum chagasi. Peridomestic sandflies acquire the etiological agent by feeding on blood of infected reservoir animals, such as dogs or wildlife. The disease is endemic in Brazil and epidemic foci have been reported in densely populated cities all over the country. Many c...

Background Rhipicephalus sanguineus is the most widely distributed tick in the world, which is partly due to its biological flexibility and the global distribution of its major host, the domestic dog. In Mediterranean region it could be principal reservoir host for Leishmania infantum, usually transmitted by the phlebotomine sand flies. In this study, we evaluated the vector potential of R. san...

The most frequently used diagnostic methods were compared in a longitudinal survey with Leishmania infantum-infected asymptomatic dogs from an area of Italy where leishmaniasis is endemic. In February and March 2005, 845 asymptomatic dogs were tested by an immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT), a dipstick assay (DS), and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for L. infantum and by IFAT...

are PCR positive and/or leishmanial antibody positive become infected with L. infantum. Persons with advanced AIDS or other immunosuppressive conditions seemingly would be at greatest risk for VL. In Brazil, legislation requires that all blood for transfusion be tested for T. cruzi ., hepatitis B and C, T. pallidum, human T-cell lymphotropic virus types 1 and 2, and HIV1 and -2. As additional i...

In order to investigate whether pigs can be infected by Leishmania infantum, a serological and parasitological study was carried out on swine in the Jequié municipality, Northeast of Brazil. Anti-Leishmania infantum antibodies were detected in 37 out of 92 swine (40.2%), by two different assays: an anti-L. infantum lysate and an anti-K39 recombinant protein ELISA. An experimental study was also...

To determine the role that Leishmania infantum/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfected patients could play in the epidemiology of visceral leishmaniasis (VL), we applied direct xenodiagnosis of VL in this study to test the infectivity of six coinfected patients to colonized Phlebotomus perniciosus. All patients proved to be infective for the sand flies. The infectivity of patients who had...

During recent years, several Leishmania infantum genes have been cloned and characterized. Here, we have summarized the available information on the gene organization and expression in this protozoan parasite. From a comparative analysis, the following outstanding features were found to be common to most of the genes characterized: tandemly organized genes with conserved coding regions and dive...

Leishmania infantum and Leishmania donovani both pertain to the L. (L.) donovani complex. The status of certain strains is questioned in the literature and there are no reliable discriminative markers to identify them. Molecular tools are needed to (i) identify diagnostic markers and (ii) to allow a better understanding of phylogenetic relationships. We have developed a PCR based on cysteine pr...