Foreword -- Introduction. Leishmaniasis, the biology of a parasite. Alicia Ponte Sucre -- I Determinant features in leishmaniasis -- 1 Molecular evolution and phylogeny of Leishmania. Gabriele Schoenian, Elisa Cupolillo, Isabel Mauricio -- 2 The role of reservoirs: Canine leishmaniasis. Lenea Campino, Carla Maia -- 3 Epidemiology of leishmaniasis in the time of drug resistance. Jean Claude Dujardin, Saskya Decuypere -- II Leishmania and the immune system -- 4 The role of the immune system in resistance to infection. Lukasz Kedzierski, Krystal J. Evans -- 5 Vaccination as a control measure. Katrin Färber , Heidrun Moll -- 6 Leishmania vaccines: Past, Present and Future. Bhavana Sethu Lakshmi, Rentala Madhubala -- III Challenges in the diagnosis, treatment and control of leishmaniasis in times of drug resistance -- 7 Co-infection with HIV. Margriet den Boer, Luis Rivas, Jorge Alvar -- 8 Visceral leishmaniasis. Shyam Sundar , J aya Chakravarty -- 9 American Tegumentary leishmaniasis. Olga Zerpa, Alicia Ponte-Sucre -- IV Molecular features of drug-resistant Leishmania -- 10 Genetic expression and drug resistance, the role of proteomics. Patricia Cuervo, Jose Batista de Jesus -- 11 The role of ABC transporters in drug-resistant Leishmania. Adriano C Coelho, Paulo C Cotrim -- 12 Functional analysis of Leishmania membrane (non ABC) transporters involved in drug resistance. Scott M Landfear -- 13 Intracellular mechanisms of resistance in Leishmania -- V Pharmacology and chemotherapy of leishmaniasis. Mitali Chatterjee -- 14 Classical vs new Treatment regimens. Louis Maes, Raquel Andreia Inocencio da Luz, Paul Cos, Vanessa Yardley -- 15 Drug targets, drug effectors and drug targeting and delivery. Philippe M Loiseau, Gillian Barratt -- 16 Mechanisms of miltefosine resistance in Leishmania. Francisco Gamarro, María P Sánchez-Cañete, Santiago Castanys -- 17 P-glycoprotein-like transporters in Leishmania: a search for reversal agents. Bruno Pradines -- VI Strategies to circumvent drug resistance in Leishmania -- 18 The relevance of susceptibility tests, breakpoints and markers. Louis Maes, Paul Cos and Simon Croft -- 19 The Concept of Fitness and drug resistance in Leishmania. Alicia Ponte-Sucre, Emilia Diaz, Maritza Padrón-Nieves.

One of the main problems concerning therapeutic tools for the treatment of parasitic diseases, including leishmaniasis, is that some field parasites are naturally resistant to the classical drugs; additionally, current therapies may select parasites prone to be resistant to the applied drugs. These features are (at least partially) responsible for the disappointing persistence of the disease and resultant deaths worldwide. This book provides a comprehensive view of the pathology of the disease itself, and of parasitic drug resistance, its molecular basis, consequences and possible treatments. Scientists both from academic fields and from the industry involved in biomedical research and drug design, will find in this book a valuable and fundamental guide that conveys the knowledge needed to understand and to improve the success in combating this disease worldwide.