An increase in leishmaniasis cases among travelers, immigrants and soldiers in the United States prompted the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene to develop new evidence-based recommendations. “Leishmaniasis is an increasingly common infection in ecotourists traveling to Central and South America. Travelers visiting the jungle in the Amazon basin have a high likelihood of being exposed,” Naomi E. Aronson, MD, of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, said in a press release. “The cutaneous and mucosal forms of the infection cause serious scarring and visceral leishmaniasis can be deadly, so
Once thought to only be an issue for certain areas outside of the United States, cases of Leishmaniasis are on the rise as US soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and ecotourists in South and Central America make their way home. New guidelines released by the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) this week highlight rapid diagnostic tests and innovative treatment strategies against this growing issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists Leishmaniasis as a term used to classify multiple clinical syndromes caused by an infection with Leishmania parasites. The disease is most commonly spread
More than 70% cases of visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a parasitic disease transmitted by sand flies, in India are reported from Bihar, a resource-poor state. In absence of early diagnosis and treatment, the fatality is very high among symptomatic VL cases. However, community-based data on VL mortality is limited in Bihar. Also, little information on the factors associated with mortality among symptomatic VL patients is available from this Indian state. Evidences regarding mortality parameters can prove immensely helpful in designing specific interventions targeted at reduction of such mortality. In the current study, we created a registry of symptomatic VL cases in eight districts of Bihar to
