Is Leishmaniasis Contagious?

Leishmaniasis is a disease worth talking about. This has become a major public health problem in recent years. The disease occurs frequently in 88 countries around the world. It affects 14 million people globally, with 2 million new cases each year. So is leishmaniasis a contagious disease?

First, many scientists claim that leishmaniasis is one of the seven most important tropical diseases globally. Despite this, this disorder is often neglected and forgotten. According to a study conducted by the National Center for Epidemiology, in Spain there were 1,359 indigenous cases spread in 15 local communities between 2014 and 2017.

What is leishmaniasis?

A vector is an animal that transmits pathogens from an infected person or an infected animal to a healthy person. In other words, the disease does not spread through direct contact, but there is a second organism that carries the microorganism.

These vectors are usually invertebrates, such as mosquitoes, fleas, lice and ticks. In the case of the pathology we are talking about in this article, the Leishmania protozoan is transmitted through the bite of the sand fly (sand mosquito).

When there are enough parasites, they go to the mosquito’s mouth and pharynx and are injected into the final host at the next bite. The infected mosquito bites a human or an animal and infects it with Leishmania. This is how contamination occurs.

Despite the action of the human body’s immune system, the pathogen does not die. Instead, it reproduces inside macrophages in the blood and tissues, which end up breaking down and releasing protozoa into the blood, where other macrophages become infected and the cycle continues.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), leishmaniasis has to do with environmental change. Let’s look at some of the risk factors:

• Socio-economic conditions : Poverty implies poor living conditions and poor sanitation of households. For this reason, poverty increases the risk of illness. Misery encourages the proliferation and development of mosquitoes that transmit the disease.
• Malnutrition: Deficiency of protein, iron, vitamins and minerals causes the immune system to weaken. This causes the disease to advance and spread.
• Population mobility: The settlement of the population in deforested areas (which are the habitat of mosquitoes) leads to a rapid increase in cases of disease.
• Environmental changes: Deforestation, dam construction, irrigation systems and urbanization make mosquitoes have more contact with humans.
• Climate change: Leishmania is very sensitive to changes in weather conditions. Variations in temperature and humidity in different areas cause mosquitoes to migrate to places where they have never lived before.

What are the symptoms of leishmaniasis?

The three common forms are the following:

• Cutaneous leishmaniasis: Cutaneous leishmaniasis occurs when the infection develops only in the area of ​​the bite. Many individuals know the condition as the Button of the West. It usually occurs on the Mediterranean coast. An ulcer appears on the area of ​​the bite, which sometimes heals on its own, leaving behind a scar.
• Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis: The parasite can spread from the skin to the mucous membranes, especially affecting the upper respiratory tract. Inflammation, redness and ulceration of the mucous membranes occur.

Leishmaniasis is contagious. How can you prevent infection?

Where there are many mosquitoes, there are also infected people. Obviously, this increases the likelihood that people around you will be infected. Leishmaniasis will be a contagious disease as long as there are vectors needed for transmission.

Therefore, the main method of preventing the disease is to avoid mosquito bites, especially for people traveling to countries where the disease is common. Here are some helpful tips to avoid bites:

• Use mosquito nets for clothing and treat clothing with special substances such as permethrin.
• Avoid outdoor activities from dusk to dawn in the tropics, when mosquitoes are most active.