Leishmania

The Edinburgh University team led by Toni Aebischer has genetically designed a special fluorescent version of a parasite known as Leishmania mexicana.

unknown title 2008

A macrophage crawls over the parasite, detects the complement, and opens a hole in its membrane to engulf Leishmania.

Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

Parasitologists have run experiments in which they infected mice with Leishmania and siphoned off the inflammatory T cells made by the mice who survived the disease.

Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

Plasmodium and Leishmania are fussy about where they live, able to survive only in certain types of cells.

Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

And a third Leishmania parasite, Leishmania brasiliensis, causes espundia, in which the parasite chews away at the soft tissue of the head until its victim is faceless.

Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

In this last category is the protozoan Leishmania.

Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

Leishmania major causes Oriental sore—an annoying blister that heals itself like a canker.

Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

Leishmania can cause a few sores or eat away your face, depending on the species.

Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

In 1990, a biologist named Bobbi Low at the University of Michigan reviewed the marriage systems in cultures plagued with parasites such as blood flukes, Leishmania, and trypanosomes.

Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

And that seems, in fact, to be what happens inside people who manage to fight off Leishmania.

Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009