LEISHMANIASIS IN ROMANIA - WORK HYPOTHESIS

Abstract

Leishmaniasis has the paradoxical reputation of being both an emerging and a neglected disease. If we look at the seriousness of some clinical forms, the lack of training in microscopic diagnosis, the lack of reagents for immunological tests and the precariousness of the therapeutic arsenal in many cases, as well as the morbidity and mortality figures, we can only try to better understand and offer solutions to improve the situation. In the current conditions of global warming, humanitarian crises that generate waves of refugees and the existence of latent outbreaks of canine leishmaniasis in a country where the sand fly lives undisturbed, I believe that this letter could increase the degree of concern about this disease. Leishmaniasis refers to a group of parasitic diseases transmitted by a kinetoplastid flagellate named Leishmania. More than 50 genera are recognized, but the taxonomic situation is subject to a series of controversies. Of the 20 most frequently encountered species over half are zoonotic. The protozoan causes three primary pathological forms: the two “Old World” diseases known as visceral leishmaniasis (black fever/kala azar) and cutaneous leishmaniasis (Aleppo button, Biskra button, Jericho button) as well as mucocutaneous leishmaniasis which is specific to the Americas (also called the “New World” diseases).