Leishmania donovani
Leishmania donovani is a species of intracellular parasites belonging to the genus "Leishmania", a group of haemoflagellate kinetoplastids that cause the disease leishmaniasis. It is a human blood parasite responsible for visceral leishmaniasis or "kala-azar", the most severe form of leishmaniasis. It infects the mononuclear phagocyte system including spleen, liver and bone marrow. Infection is transmitted by species of sandfly belonging to the genus "Phlebotomus" in Old World and "Lutzomyia" in New World. The species complex it represents is prevalent throughout tropical and temperate regions including Africa (mostly in Sudan), China, India, Nepal, southern Europe, Russia and South America. The species complex is responsible for thousands of deaths every year and has spread to 88 countries, with 350 million people at constant risk of infection and 0.5 million new cases in a year.

"L. donovani" was independently discovered by two British medical officers William Boog Leishman in Netley, England, and Charles Donovan in Madras, India, in 1903. However, the correct taxonomy was provided by Ronald Ross. The parasite requires two different hosts for a complete life cycle, humans as the definitive host and sandflies as the intermediate host. In some parts of the world other mammals, especially canines, act as reservoir hosts. In human cell they exist as small, spherical and unflagellated amastigote form; while they are elongated with flagellum as promastigote form in sandflies. Unlike other parasitic protists they are unable to directly penetrate the host cell, and are dependent upon phagocytosis. The whole genome sequence of "L. donovani" obtained from southeastern Nepal was published in 2011.

"L. donovani" "sensu stricto" is in a species complex with the closely related "L. infantum", which causes the same disease. The former is commonly found in East Africa and the Indian subcontinent, while the latter is found in Europe, North Africa, and Latin America. The split is done in 2007, and references to "L. donovani" often still refer to the entire complex ("sensu lato").
Q3720909
intracellular parasite
Concept
Q524818
Leishmania
Concept
Q131630
kinetoplastid
Concept
Q331283
leishmaniasis
Concept
Q2046113
visceral leishmaniasis
Concept
Q929966
mononuclear phagocyte system
Concept
Q9371
spleen
Concept
Q9368
liver
Concept
Q546523
bone marrow
Concept
Q7416192
sandfly
Concept
Q1709478
Phlebotomus
Concept
Q174807
Old World
LOC
Q1953779
Lutzomyia
Concept
Q127834
New World
Concept
Q42530
tropical
LOC
Q167466
temperate
Concept
Q15
Africa
LOC
Q1049
Sudan
LOC
Q148
China
LOC
Q668
India
LOC
Q837
Nepal
LOC
Q46
Europe
LOC
Q159
Russia
LOC
Q18
South America
LOC
Q979928
William Boog Leishman
PER
Q740418
Netley
LOC
Q21
England
LOC
Q5076920
Charles Donovan
PER
Q1352
Madras
LOC
Q8269924
taxonomy
Concept
Q102034
Ronald Ross
PER
Q513359
life cycle
Concept
Q221673
definitive host
Concept
Q221673
intermediate host
Concept
Q7377
mammals
Concept
Q25324
canines
Concept
Q1361531
reservoir host
Concept
Q10892
protists
Concept
Q184726
phagocytosis
Concept
Q7020
genome sequence
Concept
Q837
Nepal
LOC
Q1087319
sensu stricto
UNK
Q1297859
species complex
Concept
Q1950789
L. infantum
Concept
Q1950752
Leishmania donovani
Concept
1903-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1903
DATE
2011-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2011
DATE
2007-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2007
DATE
+88^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
88
NUMBER
+0.5^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
0.5
NUMBER
parent taxon
has cause
has cause
continent