Funding: Leishmania resistance

24 March 2006

In parts of Syria, antimonial drugs are losing their potency against the Leishmania parasite. A new project will test the theory that the parasite is gaining resistance to the drugs.

Leishmania is a single-celled parasite affecting a swathe of tropical countries. It causes a variety of conditions, including a disfiguring skin form, cutaneous leishmaniasis, where non-healing ulcers form and gradually eat away surface tissue.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis can be treated with antimonial drugs, which have been in use for many decades. In Aleppo, Syria, there are reports that people are not responding well to the drugs, which suggests that the parasite may be developing resistance to them – a possibility that will be tested by Dr Clive Davies and Dr Vanessa Yardley from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

As few other drugs are available to treat this 'neglected disease', development of drug resistance in cutaneous leishmaniasis would be very worrying.

Funding: Leishmania resistance

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