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American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis

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Book cover Drug Resistance in Leishmania Parasites

Abstract

American tegumentary leishmaniasis is an endemic anthropozoonosis undergoing expansion on the American continent. The disease is caused by several Leishmania species and thus there are intraspecific parasitological dissimilarities that may generate different pathologies. Furthermore, in America Leishmania spp. has diverse reservoirs (that may change continuously) and can use various vectors to infect humans and mammals. Antimonials are the drugs of choice for the treatment of American tegumentary leishmaniasis; however, their efficacy is not predictable, and this may be linked to parasite drug resistance. This is further complicated by the fact that the etiological parasitic species in America belong to both the Leishmania and the Viannia subgeni. For all these reasons, the identification of the etiological infectious agent—up to the species level—is fundamental for precise clinical diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis and for control of the disease. The present chapter offers a description of American tegumentary leishmaniasis, a fundamental piece of knowledge for the comprehension of the challenges we face for leishmaniasis in times of drug resistance. As a way to better understand the unique scenario that America offers for leishmaniasis, some data related to the figures present in the Old World will be presented.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financing support received from the Coordination for Research, Faculty of Medicine, UCV and the Council for Scientific and Humanistic Research (CDCH), Universidad Central de Venezuela. Likewise, they are grateful for the support conferred by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the University of Würzburg through the Siebold-Collegium Institute for Advanced Studies, Germany, to Alicia Ponte-Sucre.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emerson Clinical Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA

    Olga Zerpa

  2. Laboratorio de Fisiología Molecular, Instituto de Medicina Experimental, Escuela Luis Razetti, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

    Maritza Padrón-Nieves & Alicia Ponte-Sucre

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  1. Olga Zerpa
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  2. Maritza Padrón-Nieves
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  3. Alicia Ponte-Sucre
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Experimental Medicine, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

    Alicia Ponte-Sucre

  2. Escuela Luis Razetti Fac de Medicine, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

    Maritza Padrón-Nieves

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Zerpa, O., Padrón-Nieves, M., Ponte-Sucre, A. (2018). American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis. In: Ponte-Sucre, A., Padrón-Nieves, M. (eds) Drug Resistance in Leishmania Parasites. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74186-4_8

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