Abstract

HERBAL MEDICINE FOR LEISHMANIASIS: A REVIEW

Juluri Krishna Dutta Tejaswi* and Dr. R. Govinda Rajan

ABSTRACT

Worldwide, after malaria and sleeping sickness, Leishmaniasis is the third most important vector borne disease. Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala-azar) is a disseminated protozoan infection caused by L. donovani, L.infantum, or L. arachibaldi, and transmitted by the female phlebotomine sand fly bite. Leishmania parasites give rise to a number of different clinical manifestations. The available drugs for the treatment of Leishmaniasis have been shown to have toxic effects which besides their efficacy urge the development of new therapeutic agents capable of controlling disease. These drugs often interfere with central targets in parasites, such as DNA (intercalation, alkylation), membrane integrity, microtubules and neuronal signal transduction. Vaccinations do not work in most instances and the parasites have sometimes become resistant to the available synthetic therapeutics. The absence of an anti-leishmanial vaccine and an ideal and cheap drug to reverse the immunosuppressant poses a major challenge for Kala-azar elimination in the Indian subcontinent and worldwide. Even today, infections by parasites are often treated by plant products or secondary metabolites isolated from them. Circumstantial evidence suggests that chimpanzees, our closest primate relatives, selectively eat medicinal plants when suffering from infections.

Keywords: Cutaneous, Leishmaniasis, secondary metabolites, parasites.