Leishmaniasis News and Research

RSS

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of infected sand flies. It is found in nearly 88 countries, from rain forests in Central and South America to deserts in the Middle East and west Asia. Some cases of the disease have also appeared in Mexico and Texas.

Leishmaniasis takes several different forms, including the most common cutaneous leishmaniasis, which causes skin sores, and the more severe visceral leishmaniasis, which affects internal organs such as the spleen, liver, and bone marrow. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 1.5 million new cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis and 500,000 new cases of visceral leishmaniasis in the world each year.

DNDi and Institut Pasteur Korea collaborates to spur fight against neglected diseases

A collaboration between the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) and the Institut Pasteur Korea (IP-K) to spur the fight against neglected diseases has been established.

14 Aug 2013

Zydus, IDRI partner to develop visceral leishmaniasis vaccine candidate

In a unique partnership, Zydus, India's fourth largest healthcare group and an innovation-led global healthcare provider, and IDRI, a Seattle-based non-profit research and product development organization, announced today they are collaborating on the production and clinical development of IDRI's visceral leishmaniasis vaccine candidate, designed to prevent the deadly parasitic disease.

26 Jul 2013

WHO includes new paediatric therapeutic options to EMLc

This week the World Health Organization released its newly updated 4th WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children, in which three treatments developed by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and its partners have now been included.

12 Jul 2013

WHO's new HIV treatment guidelines call for immediate ART for HIV-infected children

The World Health Organization's new HIV treatment guidelines, released today at the 2013 International AIDS Society Conference, include new antiretroviral therapy recommendations for HIV-infected children, and will mean that more children will be on better treatments.

1 Jul 2013

Sustained engagement, partnership needed to implement new treatments for neglected diseases

Days after two landmark resolutions were adopted at the World Health Assembly - on neglected tropical diseases and on research and development, financing and coordination for the health needs of developing countries - over 400 scientists, representatives and ministers of health, ambassadors, national control programme representatives, African regulators, health workers, public health experts, and activists from 21 African countries and 10 others from around the world gather in Nairobi to take stock of health innovation for neglected diseases in Africa over the past decade.

6 Jun 2013

New LAMP malaria test to improve diagnosis for imported UK cases

A new, highly sensitive blood test that quickly detects even the lowest levels of malaria parasites in the body could make a dramatic difference in efforts to tackle the disease in the UK and across the world, according to new research published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

17 May 2013

Humans: The primary cause of global climate change

Do most scientists agree that human activity is causing global climate change? Yes, they do, according to an extensive analysis of the abstracts or summaries of scientific papers published over the past 20 years, even though public perception tends to be that climate scientists disagree over the fundamental cause of climate change.

17 May 2013

Researchers reveal new molecular mechanisms that resist visceral leishmaniasis

Researchers from CNRS, Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier and IRD have elucidated new molecular mechanisms involved in resistance to visceral leishmaniasis, a serious parasitic infection.

16 May 2013

AfriCoLeish receives grant from European Union to test new treatments for kala-azar

Research and development (R&D) project, AfriCoLeish, is supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (EU FP7) through a grant of -3 million. The project will run for three years and aims to test new treatments for kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis, or VL) and co-infection of the disease with HIV in Ethiopia and Sudan.

23 Apr 2013

New Japan-driven initiative to accelerate research, development innovation for neglected diseases

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, based in Geneva, Switzerland, and DNDi Japan, based in Tokyo, welcome the launch of the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, an initiative supported by the Japanese government, several Japanese pharmaceutical companies, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

9 Apr 2013

Same factor that helps fight off severe inflammatory ailments also functions as enemy

The same factor in our immune system that is instrumental in enabling us to fight off severe and dangerous inflammatory ailments is also a player in doing the opposite at a later stage, causing the suppression of our immune response.

4 Apr 2013

Texas Tech Professor receives NIH grant to research on leishmaniasis

A Texas Tech University biology professor received a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the biochemistry of a microscopic parasite responsible for the tropical disease leishmaniasis in the hope of finding a cure.

2 Apr 2013

South Sudan hospital sees influx of kala azar, malaria patients

VOA News examines an influx of patients suffering from kala azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis, and malaria in a South Sudan hospital, writing, "The pediatric ward at the main hospital in Bentiu is overcrowded and under-staffed as an unusually high number of children suffering from kala azar and malaria have been brought in for treatment."

15 Mar 2013

Drug to treat leishmaniasis fails in 20% of patients, study shows

"One in five people treated for a serious form of leishmaniasis in Nepal relapse after a year," Nature reports, adding, "The finding, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases last month, is 'an alarming signal' for campaigns to eliminate the neglected disease, say researchers."

12 Mar 2013

DNDi receives 2013 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge and Culture Award

Today in Madrid, Spain, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) received the BBVA Foundation 'Frontiers of Knowledge and Culture Award for Development Cooperation'. This EUR 400,000 award will be presented at a ceremony in Madrid, Spain, in June of this year.

27 Feb 2013

DNDi in Latin America wins Carlos Slim Health Award for innovations in drug development

Today the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in Latin America received the Carlos Slim Health Award for 10 years of exceptional work and achievements in research and development (R&D) to deliver new treatments for neglected patients in the region. The $100,000 award will be presented at a ceremony in April in Mexico City.

16 Feb 2013

Research shows genetic factors increase risk of visceral leishmaniasis

A new study published in Nature Genetics last week shows that genetics likely influence whether an individual develops visceral leishmaniasis, a lethal form of the parasitic disease transmitted by sandflies, the New York Times reports.

16 Jan 2013

UAB research succeeds in testing a vaccine against leishmaniasis

A research coordinated by the UAB has succeeded in testing a vaccine against leishmaniasis. The vaccine was tested with the best animal model existing, the golden hamster, and can be produced at low costs by using insect larvae.

21 Dec 2012

Fatal imbalance between global disease burden and drug development

Despite important progress in research and development (R&D) for global health over the past decade, only a small fraction of new medicines developed between 2000 and 2011 were for the treatment of neglected diseases, highlighting the 'fatal imbalance' between global disease burden and drug development for some of the world most devastating illnesses, said Doctors Without Borders/M-decins Sans Fronti-res (MSF) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), in an analysis to be presented today at an international conference aimed at spurring medical innovations for these diseases.

13 Dec 2012

Drugs for Neglected Diseases receives UNITAID grant for paediatric HIV programme

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative welcomes the announcement by UNITAID to grant up to USD 17.3 million to the organization for its paediatric HIV programme.

12 Dec 2012