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A Brief Introduction to Leishmaniasis Epidemiology

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The Leishmaniases: Old Neglected Tropical Diseases

Abstract

The eco-epidemiological and medical complexity of leishmaniases is a major cause of their neglect worldwide, despite they represent one of the largest disease burdens among infectious diseases. Eleven nosogeographical entities—including anthroponotic and zoonotic leishmaniases—were listed in 1990, and they increased to 15 in 2010. Case reporting is often inadequate, so leishmaniases are not recognized and prioritized at the public health policy level, and their visibility is eventually not proportionate to their true burden. In this chapter, a consolidated view of the epidemiological determinants impacting on patterns of human leishmaniasis worldwide is presented. It is important to note that leishmaniasis transmission occurs almost exclusively via vector and, even though other modes of transmission have been reported, they are definitely rare events. Intrinsic tropism and virulence of Leishmania species, ecological characteristics of the transmission sites and widely varying human-associated risk factors are the main epidemiological determinants. Poverty, migration and state of immunity represent interlinked factors which currently have a major impact on the occurrence and trends of the human leishmaniases worldwide. Recently, a great deal of information on leishmaniasis including identification of risk factors and ecological predictors has been obtained through quantitative epidemiology methods. Predicted scenarios of climate changes are expected to affect the epidemiology of the leishmaniases in the near-mid future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Vector-Borne Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy

    Luigi Gradoni

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  1. Luigi Gradoni
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Correspondence to Luigi Gradoni .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Translational Research, University di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Fabrizio Bruschi

  2. Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy

    Luigi Gradoni

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Gradoni, L. (2018). A Brief Introduction to Leishmaniasis Epidemiology. In: Bruschi, F., Gradoni, L. (eds) The Leishmaniases: Old Neglected Tropical Diseases. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72386-0_1

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