Leishmaniasis+(Leishmania+spp.)


 * **Where it is found:**  Start at the site of the sandfly bite, they are located in Southern Asia, Northern Africa, and Southern Europe.[[image:leismap1who.jpg width="478" height="346" align="right"]]


 * **What causes it:** From being bitten by a sandfly
 * Cutaneous leishmaniasis affects the skin and mucus membranes. Skin sores usually start at the site of the sandfly bite. They can last for months or years before healing on their own. In a few people, sores may develop on mucus membranes
 * Systemic, or visceral leishmaniasis affects the entire body. This form occurs 2 - 8 months after a person is bitten by the sandfly. Most people do not remember having a skin sore. This form can lead to deadly complications. The parasites damage the immune system by decreasing the numbers of disease-fighting cells.


 * **Preventions:**
 * Preventing sandfly bites is the most immediate form of protection. You can prevent a bite by:
 * Wearing insect repellent
 * Wearing protective clothing
 * Screening windows
 * Putting fine mesh netting around the bed (in areas where the disease occurs)
 * Public health measures to reduce the sandfly population and animal reservoirs are important. There are no preventive vaccines or drugs for leishmaniasis.
 * **Treatments:**
 * Medicines called antimony-containing compounds are the main drugs used to treat leishmaniasis. These include:
 * Meglumine antimonate
 * Sodium stibogluconate
 * Other drugs that may be used include:
 * Amphotericin B
 * Fluconazole
 * Pentamidine
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Plastic surgery may be needed to correct the disfigurement caused by sores on the face (cutaneous leishmaniasis). Patients with drug-resistant viral leishmaniasis may need to have their spleen removed (splenectomy).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">**Life Cycle:**
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Leishmaniasis is transmitted by the bite of female phlebotomine sandflies. The sandflies inject the infective stage, promastigotes, during blood meals. Promastigotes that reach the puncture wound are phagocytized by macrophages and transform into amastigotes. Amastigotes multiply in infected cells and affect different tissues, depending in part on the Leishmania species. This originates the clinical manifestations of leishmaniasis. Sandflies become infected during blood meals on an infected host when they ingest macrophages infected with amastigotes. In the sandfly's midgut, the parasites differentiate into promastigotes, which multiply and migrate to the proboscis.
 * [[image:Leishmania_LifeCycle.gif]]


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 170%;">Reference:
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 170%;">Pictures
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Sandfly: veterinariosdemexico.com
 * Map: sprojects.mmi.mcgill.ca
 * Sore: []
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Life Cycle: []
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Information
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Everything but life cycle: []
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Life Cycle: []

<span style="color: #00ff00; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 190%;">By: Brad Bramlett & Tiffany Williamson :)