Leishmania Life Cycle
Life Cycle
- Promastigote enters skin of vertebrate host when infected sandfly takes its bloodmeal
- Promastigote invades permissive host cell (e.g. macrophages, monocytes, and Langerhans cells)
- Transforms into amastigotes
- Amastigotes develops and multiplies in the phagocytic vacuole
- Host cell bursts to release free amastigotes to infect other cells
- Infected macrophages moves from the skin to other tissues
- Amother sandfly consumes amastigoes with bloodmeal
- Amastigotes are released into midgut of insect
- Amastigotes transform into procyclics
- Procyclics multiply in the petrirophic membrane in the insect midgut
- Some escape to differentiate to nectomonads or haptomonads
- Parasites differentiate into metacyclic forms
- They are found in the anterior end of the midgut or in the mouthparts of the sandfly
Dying for more?
Life Cycle (Part 2)
Distribution of Leishmanisis
The effects of Leishmanisis (WARNING: Pictures are not easy on the eyes)
The effects of Leishmanisis (Part 2 WARNING: Pictures are not easy on the eyes)
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