Revisiting epidemiology of leishmaniasis in central Asia: lessons learnt.

In this work we reviewed historical and recent data on spp. infection combining data collected in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, China and Mongolia. We specifically focused on a complex of co-existing species (, and ) sharing the same animal reservoirs and vectors. In addition, we analysed the presence of dsRNA viruses in these species and discussed future research directions to identify species-specific traits, which may determine susceptibility of different spp. to viral infection.