| 1. NCBI Taxonomy ID: |
| 5671 |
| 2. Disease: |
| Infantile visceral leishmaniasis |
| 3. Introduction |
| Leishmania infantum is the causative agent of infantile visceral leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean region of the Old World and in Latin America, where it has been called Leishmania chagasi. It is also an unusual cause of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Wild canids and domestic dogs are the natural reservoir of this organism. L. infantum is closely-related to L. donovani and some authors believe that these two species are so close as to actually be subspecies of each other, however phylogenetic analyses can distinguish between these two groups (Wiki: Leishmania infantum). |
| 4. Microbial Pathogenesis |
|
The parasites are transmitted by the bite of sandflies and the infecting promastigotes differentiate into and replicate as amastigotes within macrophages in the mammalian host (Goto et al., 2007). |
| 5. Host Ranges and Animal Models |
| Wild canids and domestic dogs are the natural reservoir of L. infantum, and the parasite is vectored by sandflies which pass on infection when they bite mammals including humans (Goto et al., 2007). |
| 6. Host Protective Immunity |
| In common with other intracellular pathogens, cellular immune responses are critical for protection against leishmaniasis. Th1 immune responses play an important role in mediating protection against Leishmania, including roles for CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, IFN-γ, IL-12, TNF-α and NO, whereas inhibitory effects have been reported for IL-10 and TGF-β (Goto et al., 2007). |
