Prof. Alon Warburg, a researcher at the Kovin Center for Infectious and Tropical Disease Research at the Hebrew University, recently received a $5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct research in Ethiopia on leishmaniasis of the internal organs
The study deals with the ecology and transmission of leishmaniasis of the internal organs in Ethiopia. The research will diagnose how the disease spreads, locate the habitats of the sand flies, test and ecologically characterize the habitats and look for ways to destroy the flies. At the same time, the researchers will examine the genetic structure of the parasites that cause the disease and their sensitivity to various drugs. After collecting the data and analyzing it, the researchers will try to identify the weak links in the transmission chain of the disease, in order to find ways to overcome it.
According to Prof. Warburg, leishmaniasis of the internal organs (Kella-Azer) is transmitted by the bite of sandflies, small stinging insects, which contract the disease when they suck blood from an infected person or animal and pass it on when they suck blood from others. However, the location of the breeding sites of these flies is unknown, which makes it difficult to treat the source of the problem.
About 500,000 cases of leishmaniasis of the internal organs are discovered every year. More than 90 percent of cases are detected in India, East Africa and Brazil and the most affected area in Africa includes South Sudan and North West Ethiopia. Leishmania parasites multiply in the cells of the immune system in the spleen, liver and bone marrow and can cause death. Only an appropriate treatment within 30 days of muscle spasms may save most of the patients.
The treatment of the disease is more complex when AIDS patients contract it - since the immune system of AIDS patients collapses, the rate of those infected with the disease is higher and they need many treatments. Due to the difficulty of treating large populations in remote areas and the risk that AIDS patients will contract the disease, most of the research's efforts are focused on protecting people living in areas where the disease is widespread from becoming infected.
The research will be conducted in collaboration with researchers from Addis Ababa University as well as researchers from the Hebrew University's Faculty of Food and Environmental Agriculture, Volcani Institute, Gartner Institute for Trauma and Emergency Medicine and Charles University in Prague.
