Treatment+and+Response+-+Leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis is both able to be treated and prevented.

Treatment
 * The process of diagnosing Leishmaniasis is not an easy one. Tests that may be performed to confirm the disease are but not limited to biopsy of the spleen and culture, biopsy of the bone marrow and culture, Direct agglutination assay, Indirect immunofluorescent antibody test, a specific PCR test, complete blood count, and serologic testing. None of these tests are particularly easy to implement on a large scale without access to labs, equipment, and proper sanitation.
 * Leishmaniasis is also difficult and expensive to treat. Drugs called antimony-containing compounds such as meglumine antimoniate and sodium stibogluconate are the main drugs involved in the treatment of Leishmaniasis. Other drugs such as Amphotericin B, Ketoconazole, Miltefosine, Paromomycin, and Pentamidine may also be used to treat Leishmaniasis.
 * Unfortunately, even though the disease is treatable with drugs, the scars that are responsible for the many social repercussions of Leishmaniasis can only be treated with plastic surgery.

Response
 * Since Leishmaniasis is caused by sandfly bites and is so difficult and expensive to cure and treat, much of the response by organizations such as the World Health Organization has focused on prevention. WHO has distributed insecticide treated bed nets to over 30,000 people in order to protect them from sandfly bites.
 * Also, WHO is launching an education campaign to try to remove the social stigmas targeted at people who suffer from this disease so that more cases may be detected and more patients treated.
 * Currently, Leishmaniasis has no vaccine
 * World Wide, very few funds are being allocated to cutaneous leishmaniasis because it is both non life threatening and very difficult to treat and diagnose
 * Women and children are disproportionately affected by Leishmaniasis because they are usually the ones in the house at the times (dusk and dawn) when the sandflies like to bite