title: Leishmaniases in Ecuador: Comprehensive review and current status.
abstract: This article reviews current knowledge about leishmaniases in Ecuador, proceeding from 1920, when the first human case was described, to the present, mainly focusing on the recent research events published. Regarding basic situations, it appears that 23 of Ecuador's 24 provinces have leishmaniasis-case reports. The disease is one of the mandatory notification infectious diseases in the country since 2005. All the 21,305 cases notified to the Ministry of Public Health, during the period from 2001 through 2014, were said to involve different clinical features of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) but not visceral (VL). Eight Leishmania species, L. (Viannia) guyanensis, L. (V.) panamensis, L. (V.) braziliensis, L. (Leishmania) mexicana, L. (L.) amazonensis, L. (L.) major-like, L. (V.) naiffiand L. (V.) lainsoni were characterized. The last two species were most recently reported from the Ecuadorian Amazon regions. Of the 73 Ecuadorian Lutzomyia species (43 man-biting species) recorded, only four, Lu. trapidoi, Lu. gomezi, Lu. ayacuchensis, and Lu. tortura were incriminated as vectors of the Leishmania parasites. Current knowledge on the reservoir hosts of Leishmania in Ecuador is extremely poor. Recently, in Ecuador different kinds of molecular techniques were developed for diagnosis and mass screening of the disease, employing various materials derived from patients and sand fly vectors. These are PCR-RFLP, colorimetric FTA-LAMP etc. Brief comments and recommendations were also given, for future research and control of leishmaniases in Ecuador.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia y Medicina Tropical, Centro de Biomedicina, Facultad de Ciencias Medicas, Universidad Catolica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador; Department of Parasitology, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Kochi, Japan. Electronic address: yhashiguchi42@yahoo.co.jp.
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hashiguchi
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia y Medicina Tropical, Centro de Biomedicina, Facultad de Ciencias Medicas, Universidad Catolica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
authors.forename: Lenin N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Velez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia y Medicina Tropical, Centro de Biomedicina, Facultad de Ciencias Medicas, Universidad Catolica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
authors.forename: Nancy V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Villegas
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mimori
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia y Medicina Tropical, Centro de Biomedicina, Facultad de Ciencias Medicas, Universidad Catolica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
authors.forename: Eduardo A L
authors.initials: EAL
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Zoology, Department of Infection and Immunity, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirotomo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kato
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004484:Ecuador / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology*; D007891:Leishmania; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D011576:Psychodidae / Q000469:parasitology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Clinical presentations; Ecuador; Leishmania; Leishmaniases; Reservoirs; Sand fly vector Lutzomyia