Fig. 1

Life cycle of Leishmania species. The sand flies inject metacyclic promastigote stages of the parasite as they take their blood meal [13]. These parasites transform into asexually reproducing amastigotes within macrophages and can affect different organs and tissues depending, in part, on the parasite species and the species and immune status of the host. The Leishmania species that infect humans are also found in a variety of mammalian reservoir hosts, including canids (particularly domestic dogs), rodents and marsupials [17]