Epidemiology and ecology of leishmaniasis in Latin-America.

Of the diseases caused by protozoal parasites, leishmaniasis is probably second in importance only to malaria. Chemotherapeutic drugs are toxic, expensive and not 100% effective. This, and the absence of any non-living vaccine against the disease, means that control depends on eliminating either reservoirs or insect vectors, or both. Recently, a greatly increased knowledge of the Leishmania species involved, and of their natural hosts, has helped to define the nature and extent of the problem.