Karunaweera Nadira D
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Kynsey Road, Colombo 08, Sri Lanka.
Trends Parasitol. 2009 Oct;25(10):458-63. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2009.07.002. Epub 2009 Sep 4.
Research involving leishmaniasis, a newly established disease in Sri Lanka, has focused mostly on parasitological and clinical factors, with inadequate understanding of other aspects, including its epidemiology and vector. The escalation in the spread of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases within Sri Lanka and the close resemblance (genotypic and phenotypic) between the local parasite Leishmania donovani MON-37 and the parasite causing visceral leishmaniasis in India (L. donovani MON-2), underscored by the more recent case reports of autochthonous cases of visceral and mucocutaneous-like disease, are clear warnings to the health authorities, scientists and policy makers. An effective control strategy is needed to contain further spread of cutaneous disease and avert a more-virulent form of leishmaniasis becoming endemic in Sri Lanka.
利什曼病是斯里兰卡一种新出现的疾病，相关研究主要集中在寄生虫学和临床因素方面，而对包括其流行病学和病媒等其他方面的了解不足。斯里兰卡皮肤利什曼病病例传播的升级，以及当地寄生虫杜氏利什曼原虫MON-37与印度引起内脏利什曼病的寄生虫（杜氏利什曼原虫MON-2）之间在基因型和表型上的高度相似，最近关于内脏和黏膜皮肤样疾病本土病例的报告进一步凸显了这一点，这对卫生当局、科学家和政策制定者来说是明确的警示。需要一种有效的控制策略来遏制皮肤疾病的进一步传播，并避免更具毒性的利什曼病形式在斯里兰卡成为地方病。
