What is Visceral Leishmaniasis?

VL is a severe disease with high mortality, endemic in 88 countries including 17 developed nations (1,2). A serious problem in much of the world including Brazil, China, East Africa, India and areas of the Middle East, leishmaniasis is also endemic in the Mediterranean region including southern France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Northern Africa. In areas where leishmaniasis is endemic, recent migration patterns of people, vectors (sandy) and reservoirs (dogs) have led to the urbanization of VL (3). In Southern Europe, VL has become the leading opportunistic infection in AIDS patients.

VL is caused by members of the Leishmania donovani complex and canines have been identied as the major reservoir for transmission. Serodiagnosis has been widely utilized to establish infection because antileishmanial antibody titers are high during acute disease.