Health

Parasite's Conjugal Bed Discovered: Leshmania's Secrets Revealed

by Barbara McPherson | April 11, 2009 at 08:52 am

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A breakthrough in the study of the Leishmania parasite has given researchers new hope in combatting this disease causing organism. The disease that this parasite causes, Leishmaniasis, can cause painful and disfiguring skin sores or affect internal organs and eventually kill the victim.
It is estimated that 12 million people worldwide are infected with this organism with about 2 million new cases each year.
The life cycle of this parasite has been difficult to study because it is spread by a tiny fly. It was known that Leshmania reproduced asexually. Now the suspicions of researchers have been confirmed that this organism reproduces sexually as well. This gives hope to the medical profession that a new pathway may be found in combatting this nasty parasite.

Leishmaniasis (LEASH-ma-NIGH-a-sis) is a parasitic disease that is found in parts of the tropics, subtropics, and southern Europe. It is caused by infection with Leishmania parasites, which are spread by the bite of infected sand flies. There are several different forms of leishmaniasis in people. The most common forms are cutaneous (cue-TAY-knee-us) leishmaniasis, which causes skin sores, and visceral (VIS-er-al) leishmaniasis, which affects some of the internal organs of the body (for example, spleen, liver, and bone marrow).

Researchers have finally shown that the parasite responsible for leishmaniasis does engage in sex, potentially opening up new opportunities for fighting the deadly disease.

The World Health Organization estimates that 12 million people are currently infected worldwide with widely differing forms of the disease, caused by Leishmania parasites. Some forms cause horrific skin infections, and others affect the internal organs and can cause death.

Now David Sacks, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, and his colleagues confirm the suspicions of many researchers by reporting evidence for Leishmania sexual recombination in a paper in Science1.