Estimation of the risk of developing resistance to anti-leishmanial drugs

Leishmaniasis has a mortality rate of up to 30 thousand deaths per year according to the latest reports of the World Health Organization (WHO). With no vaccine available and an estimated number of 12 million people currently infected, development of treatment resistance can present a serious threat. Leishmaniasis is a group of diseases which are caused by Leishmania parasites, and transmitted through the bite of phlebotomine sand flies. Leishmania is mainly prevalent in developing countries and has been classified as one of the neglected tropical diseases. Resistance to leishmania treatment can occur due to a wide variety of reasons including host related factors, emergence of novel resistant strains and finally, patient drug misuse and discontinuity of the medication due to high costs or high toxicity can also lead to emergence of clinical resistant strains. In this project an outline is proposed for the prediction of anti-leishmanial drug resistance. This project will combine the knowledge from drugs already in use with the genomic/metabolic profile of resistant strains towards the design of new resistance free antileishmanial drugs.

Keywords:B780-tropical-medicine