Planning for wolf-livestock coexistence: landscape context predicts livestock depredation risk in agricultural landscapes.

Extensive pastoral livestock systems in Central Europe provide multiple ecosystem services and support biodiversity in agricultural landscapes but their viability is challenged by livestock depredation (LD) associated with the recovery of wolf populations. Variation in the spatial distribution of LD depends on a suite of factors, most of which are unavailable at the appropriate scales. To assess if LD patterns can be predicted sufficiently with land use data alone at the scale of one federal state in Germany, we employed a machine-learning-supported resource selection approach.

Microsatellite based molecular epidemiology of Leishmania infantum from re-emerging foci of visceral leishmaniasis in Armenia and pilot risk assessment by ecological niche modeling.

Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is re-emerging in Armenia since 1999 with 167 cases recorded until 2019. The objectives of this study were (i) to determine for the first time the genetic diversity and population structure of the causative agent of VL in Armenia; (ii) to compare these genotypes with those from most endemic regions worldwide; (iii) to monitor the diversity of vectors in Armenia; (iv) to predict the distribution of the vectors and VL in time and space by ecological niche modeling.

Methodology/principal Findings: Human samples from different parts of Armenia previously identified by ITS-1-RFLP as L.

History of the E.I. Martsinovsky Institute of Medical Parasitology and Tropical Medicine: research on malaria and leishmaniasis.

This review presents the 100-year history of the Martsinovsky Institute of Medical Parasitology and Tropical Medicine in Moscow, Russia, starting with its foundation and early activities, and also describes the impact of its leading scientists, some of whom became internationally known. The institute headed a network of nine tropical institutes in the various Soviet republics from the 1920s to 1990. The extensive body of literature on the history and research accomplishments of this institute has mainly been published in Russian; our goal here is to introduce these achievements and this expertise to the international scientific and medical community, focusing on malaria and leishmaniasis and the development of measures to control and monitor these diseases in the USSR.

Integrative Approach to Grassi, 1908: First Record in Vienna with New Morphological and Molecular Insights.

Sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) are blood-feeding insects that transmit the protozoan parasites spp. and various arthropod-borne (arbo) viruses. While in Mediterranean parts of Europe the sand fly fauna is diverse, in Central European countries including Austria mainly is found, an assumed but unproven vector of .

A novel multilocus sequence typing scheme identifying genetic diversity amongst Leishmania donovani isolates from a genetically homogeneous population in the Indian subcontinent.

In the Indian subcontinent, infection with Leishmania donovani can cause fatal visceral leishmaniasis. Genetic variation in L. donovani is believed to occur rapidly from environmental changes and through selective drug pressures, thereby allowing continued disease occurrence in this region.

Phylogenetic Studies.

Phylogenetics is an important component of the systems biology approach. Knowledge about evolution of the genus Leishmania is essential to understand various aspects of basic biology of these parasites, such as parasite-host or parasite-vector relationships, biogeography, or epidemiology. Here, we present a comprehensive guideline for performing phylogenetic studies based on DNA sequence data, but with principles that can be adapted to protein sequences or other molecular markers.

Re-Emerging foci of visceral leishmaniasis in Armenia - first molecular diagnosis of clinical samples.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) was firstly reported in Armenia in 1913. Following a considerable increase of the number of cases until the mid 1950s, the disease disappeared after 1969 and re-emerged in 1999. Scientific literature about VL in Armenia is available only in Russian or Armenian.

A pilot study on fingerprinting Leishmania species from the Old World using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

Leishmania species are protozoan parasites and the causative agents of leishmaniasis, a vector borne disease that imposes a large health burden on individuals living mainly in tropical and subtropical regions. Different Leishmania species are responsible for the distinct clinical patterns, such as cutaneous, mucocutaneous, and visceral leishmaniasis, with the latter being potentially fatal if left untreated. For this reason, it is important to perform correct species identification and differentiation.

Epidemiological analysis of Leishmania tropica strains and giemsa-stained smears from Syrian and Turkish leishmaniasis patients using multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT).

Turkey is located in an important geographical location, in terms of the epidemiology of vector-borne diseases, linking Asia and Europe. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is one of the endemic diseases in a Turkey and according to the Ministry Health of Turkey, 45% of CL patients originate from Şanlıurfa province located in southeastern Turkey. Herein, the epidemiological status of CL, caused by L.

Leishmania infections: Molecular targets and diagnosis.

Progress in the diagnosis of leishmaniases depends on the development of effective methods and the discovery of suitable biomarkers. We propose firstly an update classification of Leishmania species and their synonymies. We demonstrate a global map highlighting the geography of known endemic Leishmania species pathogenic to humans.

A Historical Overview of the Classification, Evolution, and Dispersion of Leishmania Parasites and Sandflies.

Background: The aim of this study is to describe the major evolutionary historical events among Leishmania, sandflies, and the associated animal reservoirs in detail, in accordance with the geographical evolution of the Earth, which has not been previously discussed on a large scale.

Methodology And Principal Findings: Leishmania and sandfly classification has always been a controversial matter, and the increasing number of species currently described further complicates this issue. Despite several hypotheses on the origin, evolution, and distribution of Leishmania and sandflies in the Old and New World, no consistent agreement exists regarding dissemination of the actors that play roles in leishmaniasis.

Phylogenetic structure of Leishmania tropica in the new endemic focus Birjand in East Iran in comparison to other Iranian endemic regions.

Iran has been identified being among the countries with the highest number of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) cases. South Khorasan province in East Iran is an emerging focus of CL. Species identification of sixty clinical samples by ITS1 PCR-RFLP presented evidence for the dominance of Leishmania tropica (90%) in this region.

Leishmania donovani populations in Eastern Sudan: temporal structuring and a link between human and canine transmission.

Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), caused by the members of the Leishmania donovani complex, has been responsible for devastating VL epidemics in the Sudan. Multilocus microsatellite and sequence typing studies can provide valuable insights into the molecular epidemiology of leishmaniasis, when applied at local scales. Here we present population genetic data for a large panel of strains and clones collected in endemic Sudan between 1993 and 2001.

Heterogeneity of the internal transcribed spacer region in Leishmania tropica isolates from southern Iran.

Most of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases occur in only 7 countries, including Iran. Leishmania tropica is the main cause of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran. In order to study the heterogeneity and phylogeny of L.

Genetic diversity evaluation on Portuguese Leishmania infantum strains by multilocus microsatellite typing.

Leishmania infantum is the main etiological agent of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean region, including Portugal, but, given its low isoenzyme diversity in this country, the population structure is poorly known. A set of 14 polymorphic microsatellite markers was studied on 136 Portuguese Leishmania strains isolated from different hosts, geographic regions and different clinical forms. A total of 108 different genotypes were found, which is a degree of genetic diversity comparable to other regions, even within zymodeme MON-1.

Population structure and evidence for both clonality and recombination among Brazilian strains of the subgenus Leishmania (Viannia).

Background/objectives: Parasites of the subgenus Leishmania (Viannia) cause varying clinical symptoms ranging from cutaneous leishmaniases (CL) with single or few lesions, disseminated CL (DL) with multiple lesions to disfiguring forms of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL). In this population genetics study, 37 strains of L. (V.

Genetic typing reveals monomorphism between antimony sensitive and resistant Leishmania donovani isolates from visceral leishmaniasis or post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis cases in India.

Resistance to pentavalent antimonials has emerged as a major hurdle to the treatment and control of visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar (KA), caused by Leishmania donovani. In India, over 60% of KA patients are unresponsive to the first-line drug sodium antimony gluconate (SAG). Resistance determinants in laboratory strains are partly known; however, the mechanism operating in field isolates is not well understood.

Multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT) of strains from Turkey and Cyprus reveals a novel monophyletic L. donovani sensu lato group.

Background: New foci of human CL caused by strains of the Leishmania donovani (L. donovani) complex have been recently described in Cyprus and the Çukurova region in Turkey (L. infantum) situated 150 km north of Cyprus.

Multilocus genotyping reveals a polyphyletic pattern among naturally antimony-resistant Leishmania braziliensis isolates from Peru.

In order to understand the epidemiological dynamics of antimonial (Sb(V)) resistance in zoonotic tegumentary leishmaniasis and its link with treatment outcome, we analyzed the population structure of 24 Peruvian Leishmania braziliensis clinical isolates with known in vitro antimony susceptibility and clinical phenotype by multilocus microsatellite typing (14 microsatellite loci). The genetic variability in the Peruvian isolates was high and the multilocus genotypes were strongly differentiated from each other. No correlation was found between the genotypes and in vitro drug susceptibility or clinical treatment outcome.

Atypical lesions as a sign of cutaneous dissemination of visceral leishmaniasis in a human immunodeficiency virus-positive patient simultaneously infected by two viscerotropic Leishmania species.

Leishmaniasis is considered an emerging opportunistic disease in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients who have considerably variable clinical presentation. We report a patient with visceral leishmaniasis who had unexpected clinical aspects (atypical cutaneous lesions appearing after long-term evidence of visceral parasites). The patient had hepatoesplenomegaly in the absence of fever, but was otherwise generally healthy.

Comparative microsatellite typing of new world leishmania infantum reveals low heterogeneity among populations and its recent old world origin.

Leishmania infantum (syn. L. chagasi) is the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in the New World (NW) with endemic regions extending from southern USA to northern Argentina.

Multilocus microsatellite typing shows three different genetic clusters of Leishmania major in Iran.

Ten polymorphic microsatellite markers were used to analyse 25 strains of Leishmania major collected from cutaneous leishmaniasis cases in different endemic areas in Iran. Nine of the markers were polymorphic, revealing 21 different genotypes. The data displayed significant microsatellite polymorphism with rare allelic heterozygosity.

Disseminated cutaneous leishmaniasis resembling post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania donovani in three patients co-infected with visceral leishmaniasis and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in Ethiopia.

We report paired strains of Leishmania parasites, one from the viscera and the other from skin lesions that were isolated from three patients with visceral leishmaniasis and disseminated cutaneous leishmaniasis that were co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus. The causative parasites were characterized by polymerase chain reaction-restriction length polymorphism of the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer 1 and by a panel of multilocus microsatellite markers. We demonstrated that the causative agent was Leishmania donovani in all cases, irrespective of the phenotype of the disease.

Guns, germs and dogs: On the origin of Leishmania chagasi.

The evolutionary history of Leishmania chagasi, the aetiological agent of visceral leishmaniasis in South America has been widely debated. This study addresses the problem of the origin of L. chagasi, its timing and demography with fast evolving genetic markers, a suite of Bayesian clustering algorithms and coalescent modelling.