What is Leishmania promastigotes?

Leishmaniasis is transmitted by the bite of infected female phlebotomine sand flies. The sand flies inject the infective stage (i.e., promastigotes) from their proboscis during blood meals . Promastigotes that reach the puncture wound are phagocytized by macrophages and other types of mononuclear phagocytic cells.

What is causal organism of leishmaniasis?

Causal Agent Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease that is transmitted by sandflies and caused by obligate intracellular protozoa of the genus Leishmania. Human infection is caused by about 21 of 30 species that infect mammals. These include the L. donovani complex with 3 species (L.

What are the Leishmania species?

At least 93 sandfly species are proven or probable vectors worldwide. Their primary hosts are vertebrates; Leishmania commonly infects hyraxes, canids, rodents, and humans….

Leishmania
Genus: Leishmania Borovsky 1898 (Ross 1903)
Species

Where is Leishmania mexicana found?

Leishmaniasis is endemic in southeastern Mexico, where Leishmania (L.) mexicana is the principle parasite species causing disease in humans.

What is Leptomonad form of Leishmania?

Leptomonad or promastigote stage It is found in the midgut of the invertebrates host or sandfly. It is elongated, slender, and spindle-shaped measuring 15-20µ in length and 1-2µ in width. A flagellum is long measures 15-28µ and free and arises from a minute basal body or blepharoplast situated near the anterior end.

Why Leishmaniasis is called kala azar?

Light colored person show grayish discoloration of the skin of hands, feet, abdomen and face which gives the Indian name Kala-Azar meaning “Black fever”.

Where are sandflies found?

Commonly found at beaches, wetlands creek and lakebeds, it is believed that sand fly stays within 106.68 meters of its breeding ground. Different from most biting Diptera, sand fly has a terrestrial development rather than aquatic.

How can you tell Leishmania species?

PCR hybridization is one of the first molecular methods for species identification and genotyping. DNA probes have been designed for Leishmania species identification. The most common target used for Leishmania spp identification is kDNA. DNA probes targeting kDNA have been applied for L.

Is there a vaccine for leishmaniasis?

Leishmaniases are neglected diseases caused by infection with Leishmania parasites and there are currently no prophylactic vaccines.

Where is Leishmania donovani found in the body?

Leishmania donovani is a flagellated protozoa in the sandfly and a non-flagellated (amastigote) intracellular organism in the cytoplasm of the reticulo-endothelial cells in humans. The oval nucleated amastigotes within the bone marrow, liver, spleen or lymph node cells are known as Leishman-Donovan (LD) bodies.

What is Leishmania tropica complex?

Leishmania tropica is a very heterogeneous species complex with strains that can be distinguished on ecologic, biochemical and serologic grounds. Zoonotic L. tropica is a parasite of dogs and rodents and is associated with rural disease.

What is Leptomonad?

Leptomonads refer to the members of the genus Leptomonas. They have free flagella in contrast to other genus such as Trypanosoma with flagella connected to an undulating membrane.