Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV Coinfection in the Mediterranean Region

Visceral leishmaniasis is hypoendemic in Mediterranean countries, where it is caused by the flagellate protozoan Leishmania infantum. VL cases in this area account for 5%–6% of the global burden. Cases of Leishmania/HIV coinfection have been reported in the Mediterranean region, mainly in France, It...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Monge-Maillo, Begoña, Norman, Francesca F., Cruz, Israel, Alvar, Jorge, López-Vélez, Rogelio
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2014
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140663/

id	pubmed-4140663
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-41406632014-08-25 Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV Coinfection in the Mediterranean Region Monge-Maillo, Begoña Norman, Francesca F. Cruz, Israel Alvar, Jorge López-Vélez, Rogelio Review Visceral leishmaniasis is hypoendemic in Mediterranean countries, where it is caused by the flagellate protozoan Leishmania infantum. VL cases in this area account for 5%–6% of the global burden. Cases of Leishmania/HIV coinfection have been reported in the Mediterranean region, mainly in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Since highly active antiretroviral therapy was introduced in 1997, a marked decrease in the number of coinfected cases in this region has been reported. The development of new diagnostic methods to accurately identify level of parasitemia and the risk of relapse is one of the main challenges in improving the treatment of coinfected patients. Clinical trials in the Mediterranean region are needed to determine the most adequate therapeutic options for Leishmania/HIV patients as well as the indications and regimes for secondary prophylaxis. This article reviews the epidemiological, diagnostic, clinical, and therapeutic aspects of Leishmania/HIV coinfection in the Mediterranean region. Public Library of Science 2014-08-21 /pmc/articles/PMC4140663/ /pubmed/25144380 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003021 Text en © 2014 Monge-Maillo et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Monge-Maillo, Begoña Norman, Francesca F. Cruz, Israel Alvar, Jorge López-Vélez, Rogelio
spellingShingle	Monge-Maillo, Begoña Norman, Francesca F. Cruz, Israel Alvar, Jorge López-Vélez, Rogelio Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV Coinfection in the Mediterranean Region
author_facet	Monge-Maillo, Begoña Norman, Francesca F. Cruz, Israel Alvar, Jorge López-Vélez, Rogelio
author_sort	Monge-Maillo, Begoña
title	Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV Coinfection in the Mediterranean Region
title_short	Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV Coinfection in the Mediterranean Region
title_full	Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV Coinfection in the Mediterranean Region
title_fullStr	Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV Coinfection in the Mediterranean Region
title_full_unstemmed	Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV Coinfection in the Mediterranean Region
title_sort	visceral leishmaniasis and hiv coinfection in the mediterranean region
description	Visceral leishmaniasis is hypoendemic in Mediterranean countries, where it is caused by the flagellate protozoan Leishmania infantum. VL cases in this area account for 5%–6% of the global burden. Cases of Leishmania/HIV coinfection have been reported in the Mediterranean region, mainly in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Since highly active antiretroviral therapy was introduced in 1997, a marked decrease in the number of coinfected cases in this region has been reported. The development of new diagnostic methods to accurately identify level of parasitemia and the risk of relapse is one of the main challenges in improving the treatment of coinfected patients. Clinical trials in the Mediterranean region are needed to determine the most adequate therapeutic options for Leishmania/HIV patients as well as the indications and regimes for secondary prophylaxis. This article reviews the epidemiological, diagnostic, clinical, and therapeutic aspects of Leishmania/HIV coinfection in the Mediterranean region.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2014
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140663/
_version_	1613126430327046144

Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV Coinfection in the Mediterranean Region

Similar Items