ArticleBMC infectious diseases2025
Can cutaneous leishmaniasis provoke a resurgence of kala-azar in the Indian subcontinent?
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- An observational study to test the potency of GLP-grade phenol-free lyophilised leishmanin antigen formulation.EBioMedicine · 2026Article
- Laryngeal leishmaniasis presenting with hoarseness in a child from the highland of Nepal: A rare diagnostic challenge.IDCases · 2026Article
- Molecular diagnostics for cutaneous leishmaniasis: progress towards fulfilling the WHO target product profile.Parasitology · 2025Review
- Challenges in sustaining the elimination of visceral leishmaniasis in India.International health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe ongoing kala-azar elimination program in Nepal is based on the assumption of anthroponotic transmission of the protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani. This parasite species was recently also found in lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) cases, which are increasingly reported mainly from western Nepal. The question whether or not CL causing L. donovani can also contribute to VL is a crucial one to answer if the success of the VL elimination initiative in the Indian subcontinent is to be sustained, though evidence on sub-species level genomic differences between CL and VL causing L. donovani is currently lacking. This study aims to provide a genomic comparison of L. donovani parasites currently causing CL in Nepal with previously described L. donovani isolates.
methodsA case series study was carried out in sentinel dermatological sites in Western Nepal. Skin punch biopsies were collected from clinically suspected CL lesions. Molecular tests based on the ribosomal RNA gene array were used to detect and characterize the Leishmania parasites.
resultsLeishmania parasites detected in 26 cutaneous leishmaniasis patients were identified as L. donovani. Importantly, their analyzed DNA sequences were identical, and shared with previously documented sequences from both cutaneous and visceral disease-causing parasites in Nepal, India and Bhutan.
conclusionsOur study suggests that CL and VL are caused by similar if not identical L. donovani parasite strains, though additional sequencing is required to corroborate this finding. If confirmed, cutaneous lesions could act as a kala-azar parasite reservoir, which would have important implications for the kala-azar elimination program.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.