Leishmaniasis, a vector-borne disease that is caused by obligate intra-macrophage protozoa, is endemic in large areas of the tropics, subtropics and Mediterranean basin. This disease is characterized by both diversity and complexity [1], it is caused by more than 20 leishmanial species and is transmitted to humans by about 30 different species of phlebotomine sandflies [2]. Leishmaniasis consis...

Protein kinases are promising drug targets for Leishmaniasis. We have evaluated the phosphorylation potential of protein kinases in different species and strains of Leishmania. Phosphorylation potential of serine, threonine and tyrosine residues of kinases in Leishmania parasite were studied. The results indicate that some species specific residues of serine, threonine and tyrosine have a phosp...

Arsenicals and antimonials are first line drugs for the treatment of trypanosomal and leishmanial diseases. To create the active form of the drug, Sb(V) must be reduced to Sb(III). Because arsenic and antimony are related metalloids, and arsenical resistant Leishmania strains are frequently cross-resistant to antimonials, we considered the possibility that Sb(V) is reduced by a leishmanial As(V...

BACKGROUND Leishmaniases are a group of diseases caused by Leishmania parasites. Growing of drug unresponsiveness in leishmaniasis patients necessitates the development of new drugs and accordingly a suitable assay is needed for evaluation of any modalities. The aim of this study was to compare four drug assays methods, agar dilution, broth dilution, cylinder plate and disk diffusion, for evalu...

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is associated with increased circulating levels of multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, including IL-12, IFNγ, and TNFα, and elevated expression of IFNγ mRNA in lesional tissue such as the spleen and bone marrow. However, an immunological feature of VL patients is that their peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) typically fail to respond to stimul...

The protective efficacy of glucan as an adjuvant with killed promastigotes of Leishmania donovani was compared with that of soluble or particulate fractions of the parasite. When these vaccine preparations were injected either intravenously or subcutaneously in CF-1 mice, glucan potentiated resistance against L. donovani infections as reflected by significant reductions in hepatic amastigote co...

Leishmaniasis is a deadly protozoan parasitic disease affecting millions of people worldwide. The treatment strategy of Leishmania infection depends exclusively on chemotherapy till date. But the treatment of the disease is greatly hampered due to high cost, toxicity of the available drugs and more importantly emergence of drug resistance. Hence the potential new drugs are highly needed to comb...

Objective(s):Solanum acueastrum Dunal.has been shown to have some chemotherapeutic value. Leaf and berry water and methanol compounds of S. acueastrum were evaluated for possible antileishmanial activity In vivo on BALB/c mice and in vitro against Leishmania major promastigotes, amastigotes and vero cells.  Materials and Methods: Dry S. aculeastrum berry and leaf material were extracted in meth...

The bacterial flora from leishmanial ulcers was studied. The aerobic species Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were found most frequently. Evaluation of the sensitivity of these species to antibiotics showed that 100% of these isolates of Staphylococcus aureus were sensitive to vancomycin, amikacin and chloramphenicol, while 100% of the isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were sen...

According to the recent reports of World Health Organization (WHO), 20 000 to 30 000 deaths occur annually due to Leishmaniasis and 200 000 to 400 000 new cases occur worldwide each year. India stands with maximum number of visceral leishmanial cases (20102013) and Bihar state alone reports more than 70% of the total reported cases in India. Efforts are being made by the Government of India in ...