New World Leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis is one of the six major tropical diseases targeted by the World Health Organization. It is a life-threatening disease of medical, social and economic importance in endemic areas. No vaccine is yet available for human use, and chemotherapy presents several problems. Pentavalent antimonials have been the drugs of choice to treat the disease for more than six decades; however, they exhibit high toxicity and are not indicated for children, for pregnant or breastfeeding women or for chronically ill patients. Amphotericin B (AmpB) is a second-line drug, and although it has been increasingly used to treat visceral leishmaniasis (VL), its clinical use has been hampered due to its high toxicity. This review focuses on the development and in vivo usage of new delivery systems for AmpB that aim to decrease its toxicity without altering its therapeutic efficacy. These new formulations, when adjusted with regard to their production costs, may be considered new drug delivery systems that promise to improve the treatment of leishmaniasis, by reducing the side effects and the number of doses while permitting a satisfactory cost-benefit rati

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New delivery systems for amphotericin B applied to the improvement of leishmaniasis treatment

Chávez-Fumagalli

Ribeiro

Castilho

et al. 2015

“…This indicates the low level of light and man attraction to Bichromomyia flaviscutellata. This species is recognized as the main vector of L. amazonensis [19][20][21] . Although it is reported as predominant in anthropophilic phlebotomine fauna in areas of non-climatic vegetation cover in the Amazon 22 , it is still regarded as a species with nocturnal habits, barely attracted to man [23][24][25][26][27] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sand fly captures with Disney traps in area of occurrence of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, mid-western Brazil

Dorval

Alves

Cristaldo

et al. 2010

INTRODUCTION: The work was conducted to study phlebotomine fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) and aspects of American cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission in a forested area where Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis occurs, situated in the municipality of Bela Vista, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. METHODS: The captures were conducted with modified Disney traps, using hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) as bait, from May 2004 to January 2006. RESULTS: Ten species of phlebotomine sandflies were captured: Brumptomyia avellari, Brumptomyia brumpti, Bichromomyia flaviscutellata, Evandromyia bourrouli, Evandromyia lenti, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Psathyromyia campograndensis, Psathyromyia punctigeniculata, Psathyromyia shannoni and Sciopemyia sordellii. The two predominant species were Ev bourrouli (57.3%) and Bi flaviscutellata (41.4%), present at all sampling sites. Two of the 36 hamsters used as bait presented natural infection with Leishmania. The parasite was identified as Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of the results revealed the efficiency of Disney traps for capturing Bichromomyia flaviscutellata and the simultaneous presence of both vector and the Leishmania species transmitted by the same can be considered a predictive factor of the occurrence of leishmaniasis outbreaks for the human population that occupies the location.

“…Lutzomyia whitmani is well known for its anthropophilic action and involvement in the transmission of leishmaniasis in Brazil and Paraguay (25) (30) (31) . The data on the ecology of this species is still incipient, especially in Northeastern Brazil (32) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in an urban area of Northeastern Brazil

Agra

Costa

Duque

et al. 2016

Introduction:The sandfl y fauna is well studied globally. In Brazil, sandfl y fauna is very diverse in the Northeast region, especially in states such as Maranhão, Ceará, and Bahia. However, in the State of Pernambuco, the distribution of these insects is still not well known. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the different species that constitute the sandfl y fauna in an urban area in the Northeast region of Brazil, where an outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) was recently reported. Methods: The sandfl ies were collected from an urban area endemic for VL, at fi ve collection points. The collection of samples was carried out from November 2014 to December 2015, using CDC light traps installed in intradomiciliary and peridomiciliary fashion. Results: The collected sandfl ies (n = 297) belonged to eight species: Lutzomyia lenti, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Lutzomyia sallesi, Lutzomyia migonei, Lutzomyia walkeri, Lutzomyia capixaba, Lutzomyia carmelinoi, and Lutzomyia whitmani. Most of the specimens collected were peridomiciliary (247/297, 83%). L. lenti (154/297, 52%) was the most frequently sampled species, followed by L. longipalpis (88/297, 29.6%), and L. sallesi (42/297, 14.1%), which together accounted for over 90% of the collected sandfl y specimens. Conclusions: The continued presence of L. longipalpis in urban areas, including that in intradomiciliary areas, with a predominance of females, is crucial because of the high possibility of them causing VL outbreaks, since this species is the main vector of Leishmania infantum in Brazil.