Plant-Based Alternative Treatment for Leishmaniasis: A Neglected Tropical Disease

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is a third most important vector born disease caused by intracellular parasite belongs to genus Leishmania. The leishmaniasis is prevalent in 102 countries/areas worldwide. Approximately, it effected 350 million people worldwide. Leishmaniasis effects developing and undeveloped countries globally. Antileishmanial drugs (pentavalent antimonials, stibogluconate, miltefosine, paramycin, and amphotericin) are most vital tool for curing leishmaniasis. However, none of these drugs is free from side effect including cost, toxicity, drug resistance, administration route, and prolong time, these disadvantages are main obstacle in the Leishmania infection eradication. Considering the increasing cases of leishmaniasis and drug resistance there is an urgent need for an effective and novel approach against leishmaniasis. Therefore, many researchers have tried to develop new medicines for the treatment of Leishmania infection. In the course of new therapies identification, plant based compounds were found to be an alternative that can be either used directly or with structural modifications. Several plants have been known for ages to be the source of phytochemicals with high values of medicines. These phytochemicals have been extracted by various techniques and have shown efficacy for the curing of several diseases. This chapter study explain various applications based on green approaches drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis.