Leishmania infantum

Leishmania infantum
Several Leishmania infantum amastigotes in a bone marrow smear from a naturally infected dog
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Clade:	Discoba
Phylum:	Euglenozoa
Class:	Kinetoplastea
Order:	Trypanosomatida
Family:	Trypanosomatidae
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

Leishmania infantum is a parasitic protozoan ^[2] and the causative agent of infantile visceral leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean region ^[1] and in Latin America, where it has been called Leishmania chagasi. ^{[3] [4]} It is also an unusual cause of cutaneous leishmaniasis, ^[5] which is normally caused by specific lineages (or zymodemes). Wild canids and domestic dogs are the natural reservoir of this organism. ^[6] The sandfly species Lutzomyia longipalpis serves as the primary vector for the transmission of the disease. ^[7]

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; ^[8] 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. ^{[3] [9]}

Model system for studies of DNA repair

Comparative bioinformatic analyses showed that the size of the L. infantum BRCA2 protein is approximately three times smaller (125 kD) than its human counterpart. Furthermore, analyses revealed that LiBRCA2 possesses key features of the BRCA2 family. The smaller size of the Leishmania BRCA2 DNA repair protein has been exploited to better understand its function in homologous recombination and its interaction with the LiRAD51 recombinase. ^[10]

Reservoir hosts

L. infantum is spread by Phlebotomus sand fly vectors and is able to infect numerous domestic and wild mammals. The most notable targets of this disease, zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis, are canines in southern Europe. Infections in wildlife tend to be uncommon. To further the understanding of possible hosts in Europe, xenodiagnosis has shown that hares ( Lepus granatensis ), rabbits ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ), black rats ( Rattus rattus ), and the American crab-eating fox ( Cerdocyon thous ) are all able to transmit the disease to vectors. There is also evidence that red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ) and other canids may contribute to transmission. There are still potential hosts in Europe whose roles are still unclear, including felines, mustelids, insectivores, chiroptera, and various rodent species. ^[11]

References

1. 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. de Freitas Milagres, Tarcísio; López-de-Felipe, Marcos; da Silva, Wellington Junior; Martín-Martín, Inés; Gálvez, Rosa; da Silva, Onilda Santos (September 2023). "Same parasite, different outcomes: unraveling the epidemiology of Leishmania infantum infection in Brazil and Spain". Trends in Parasitology. 39 (9): 774–785. doi:10.1016/j.pt.2023.06.008. PMID   37442747.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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. PMC   10964848 . PMID   38530209.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. Genois MM, Mukherjee A, Ubeda JM, Buisson R, Paquet E, Roy G, Plourde M, Coulombe Y, Ouellette M, Masson JY (August 2012). "Interactions between BRCA2 and RAD51 for promoting homologous recombination in Leishmania infantum". Nucleic Acids Res. 40 (14): 6570–84. doi:10.1093/nar/gks306. PMC   3413117 . PMID   22505581.
11. Tomassone, Laura; Berriatua, Eduardo; De Sousa, Rita; Duscher, Gerhard Georg; Mihalca, Andrei Daniel; Silaghi, Cornelia; Sprong, Hein; Zintl, Annetta (February 2018). "Neglected vector-borne zoonoses in Europe: Into the wild". Veterinary Parasitology. 251: 17–26. doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2017.12.018. PMID   29426471.

External links

• Leishmania+infantum at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)