Leishmania: an urgent need for new treatments
Abstract
eBioMedicine 2023;87: 104440 https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.ebiom.2023. 104440 Globally, more than one billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The control, treatment, and elimination of NTDs—which disproportionately affect those already living in poverty—is a crucial aspect of health equity. World NTD day, on Jan 30, 2023, provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress so far and the remaining unmet needs. Leishmania is an NTD and the second biggest parasitic killer in the world, after malaria. There are between 700 000 and 1 million new cases reported annually worldwide. Treatment remains challenging and many still rely on compounds with toxic sideeffects. More than 20 species of parasites cause leishmaniasis, so use of the same treatment regimens in multiple regions is difficult. Therefore, novel treatments for leishmania are urgently needed. Leishmania is transmitted by the bite of an infected sandfly. With no preventive vaccine or drug available, control efforts have instead focused on reducing contact with the sandfly population. The disease is most prevalent in four regions: Latin America, South-East Asia, East Africa, and North Africa. Leishmaniasis is considered climate sensitive and is vulnerable to altered geographic distributions because of the effects of temperature changes on sandfly distribution and the lifecycle of the promastigotes. In a review published in September, 2022, in Current Tropical Medicine Reports, autochthonous…
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