Leishmania infantum

Leishmania infantum
Several "Leishmania infantum" amastigotes in a bone marrow smear from a naturally infected dog
Several Leishmania infantum amastigotes in a bone marrow smear from a naturally infected dog
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Phylum: Euglenozoa
Class: Kinetoplastea
Order: Trypanosomatida
Genus: Leishmania
Species:
L. infantum
Binomial name
Leishmania infantum
Nicolle, 1908
Synonyms
  • Leishmania chagasi
Cutaneous leishmaniasis in North Africa; Leishmania infantum infected areas are in green[1]

Leishmania infantum is the causative agent of infantile visceral leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean region[1] and in Latin America, where it has been called Leishmania chagasi.[2][3] It is also an unusual cause of cutaneous leishmaniasis,[4] which is normally caused by specific lineages (or zymodemes). Wild canids and domestic dogs are the natural reservoir of this organism.[5] The sandfly species Lutzomyia longipalpis serves as the primary vector for the transmission of the disease.[6]

Leishmania infantum is closely related to Leishmania donovani, and some authors believe that these two species are so close as to actually be subspecies of each other;[7] however, phylogenetic analyses can easily distinguish between the two groups despite no difference in morphology in the species complex. Some isolates formerly labelled L. donovani may be actually L. infantum.[2][8]

  1. ^ a b Aoun, K.; Bouratbine, A. (2014). "Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in North Africa: a review". Parasite. 21: 14. doi:10.1051/parasite/2014014. PMC 3952656. PMID 24626301.
  2. ^ a b Lukeš J, et al. (2007). "Evolutionary and geographical history of the Leishmania donovani complex with a revision of current taxonomy". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (22): 9375–80. Bibcode:2007PNAS..104.9375L. doi:10.1073/pnas.0703678104. PMC 1890502. PMID 17517634.
  3. ^ Maurício IL, Stothard JR, Miles MA (May 2000). "The strange case of Leishmania chagasi". Parasitol. Today (Regul. Ed.). 16 (5): 188–9. doi:10.1016/S0169-4758(00)01637-9. PMID 10782075.
  4. ^ BenSaid M, Guerbouj S, Saghrouni F, et al. (2006). "Occurrence of Leishmania infantum cutaneous leishmaniasis in central Tunisia". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 100 (6): 521–6. doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2005.08.012. PMID 16356518.
  5. ^ Hide, Mallorie; Michel, Gregory; Legueult, Kevin; Pin, Raphaelle; Leonard, Susana; Simon, Loïc; Bañuls, Anne-Laure; Delaunay, Pascal; Marty, Pierre; Pomares, Christelle (2024). "Asymptomatic Leishmania infantum infection in dogs and dog owners in an endemic area in southeast France". Parasite. 31: 16. doi:10.1051/parasite/2024019. ISSN 1776-1042. PMC 10964848. PMID 38530209. Open access icon
  6. ^ Alexander, Bruce; Lopes de Carvalho, Renata; McCallum, Hamish; Pereira, Marcos Horácio (December 2002). "Role of the Domestic Chicken (Gallus gallus)in the Epidemiology of Urban Visceral Leishmaniasis in Brazil". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 8 (12): 1480–5. doi:10.3201/eid0812.010485. PMC 2738513. PMID 12498667.
  7. ^ Le Blancq SM, Peters W (1986). "Leishmania in the Old World: 4. The distribution of L. donovani sensu lato zymodemes". Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 80 (3): 367–77. doi:10.1016/0035-9203(86)90320-2. PMID 3798531.
  8. ^ Kuhls K, Mauricio IL, Pratlong F, Presber W, Schönian G (2005). "Analysis of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer sequences of the Leishmania donovani complex". Microbes Infect. 7 (11–12): 1224–34. doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2005.04.009. PMID 16002315.