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Leishmaniasis
12 million people, living in almost half of the world’s countries, are infected with leishmaniasis.
- There are two million new cases of leishmaniasis every year, including 500,000 of the deadly visceral form.
- Leishmaniasis causes hundreds of thousands of deaths per year, 70% of which are in children.
IDRI, working with Corixa Corporation (now GSK), developed the world’s first defined vaccine candidate for leishmaniasis, which has been tested in the USA, Peru, Brazil and Colombia, and is currently being tested in India, Sudan, and Venezuela.
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IDRI’s Efforts
IDRI is actively developing a therapeutic vaccine for human leishmaniasis and a prophylactic vaccine for canine leishmaniasis. The human therapeutic vaccine, designed to be used in conjunction with chemotherapy, is currently being tested in several countries. Because dogs are an important source of human infection in Latin America and the Mediterranean region, a preventative vaccine would be an effective way to control the spread of the disease. Canine studies focusing on visceral leishmaniasis are being pursued at several sites in Brazil.
The development of simple diagnostic tests for leishmaniasis is also a priority. The traditional test for visceral leishmaniasis was painful and invasive, requiring the patient to undergo biopsies of the spleen or bone marrow. IDRI scientists have developed antigens, including k39, that have been used to develop simple blood tests, requiring no more than a drop of blood, for the diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. One such diagnostic test, produced by InBios International, has received FDA approval, and is now being used extensively in India. Another diagnostic partner, Chembio Diagnostic Systems, is developing a test for canine leishmaniasis in Brazil, in conjunction with Fiocruz.
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About Leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is a widespread parasitic disease with frequent epidemics in the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and Latin America. The World Health Organization has declared developing a vaccine for the disease to be a priority.
The protozoan parasites that are responsible for Leishmania are transmitted by the bite of a sand fly. The visceral form of the disease causes fatal infections of internal organs, while the cutaneous form causes serious skin lesions. It is estimated that about 500,000 new cases of the visceral form, also known as “kala-azar,” or “the killing disease,” occur each year. Most of these deaths occur in children. The cutaneous forms often leaves its victims permanently disfigured.
Leishmaniasis is now out of control in many areas, and the number of cases is increasing—even in some developed countries of southern Europe—as a result of HIV infection. Available drugs are toxic, expensive, and require long-term daily injections. The emergence of drug resistant visceral leishmaniasis has increased the urgency of developing improved therapeutic strategies.
What More is Needed to Stop Leishmaniasis?
"For too long, leishmaniasis has been virtually ignored by drug and vaccine developers."
—Dr. Tom Brewer, Senior Program Officer for the Gates Foundation’s Infectious Diseases Program
Because transmission control measures are not feasible or are too expensive to maintain, development of a safe and effective vaccine is of the utmost priority. In addition, timely diagnosis and treatment are essential to help control the disease and prevent death.
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