Vector borne disease, Leishmaniasis currently threatens 1.5-2.0 million people annually with an estimated death toll of 50,000 persons/year in 88 countries around the world (Ganguly, N. K. 2002 Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases News. Geneva: United Nations Development Programme/World Bank/World Health Organizations, Report no. 68; Singh, N. et al. 2003 J Infect Dis 188: 600-607). The parasitic disease has a wide range of clinical symptoms, which include the cutaneous form caused by Leishmania aethiopica, L. mexicana, L. major and L. tropica, the mucocutaneous form by L. braziliensis and the visceral form by L. chagasi, L. donovani and L. infantum, which is fatal if not treated in the case of L. donovani. Vector control is difficult and complicated by the diverse ecology of many species of sand fly vectors and animal reservoirs (Sharifi, I. et al. 1998 Lancet 351:1540-1543). Treatment for these diseases involves chemotherapy using antimony-based drugs, which is less effective in immunocompromised individuals (Handman, E. 2001 Clin Microbiol Rev 14:229-243). No effective vaccine is yet available for any of these diseases.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds