Leishmaniasis and Molecular Diagnosis

Fadime Eroglu (Author)

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Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease with three main clinical forms: visceral, cutaneous and mucocutaneous. There are more than 20 species of Leishmania that cause the disease, and these species are transmitted to humans by more than 90 species of sandflies. Low socio-economic status, poor housing and poor sanitation conditions increase the risk of spreading the [...]

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    Work TypeBook Chapter
    Published inMolecular Approaches in Medicine
    First Page49
    Last Page56
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.69860/nobel.9786053359524.3
    Page Count8
    Copyright HolderNobel Tıp Kitabevleri
    Licensehttps://nobelpub.com/publish-with-us/copyright-and-licensing
    Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease with three main clinical forms: visceral, cutaneous and mucocutaneous. There are more than 20 species of Leishmania that cause the disease, and these species are transmitted to humans by more than 90 species of sandflies. Low socio-economic status, poor housing and poor sanitation conditions increase the risk of spreading the disease. According to many health institutions, leishmaniasis is one of the most forgotten diseases and is difficult to diagnose clinically. Leishmaniasis is diagnosed by combining clinical symptoms with parasitological, serological or molecular tests. Treatment of leishmaniasis depends on the type of disease, associated pathologies, causative parasite species and geographical location. In order to control leishmaniasis worldwide, Leishmaniasis patients with leishmaniasis must be diagnosed and treated promptly. Molecular diagnostics is a system based on isolating DNA or RNA from patient samples such as blood, urine or tissue, and then amplifying it using techniques such as polymerase chain reaction and next-generation sequencing. In recent years, molecular diagnostics have been used in the medicine to diagnose and treat disease. In addition, these methods offer personalised medicine by analysing the characteristics of the patient and the disease. With the increase of molecular studies, Leishmania tropica and Leishmania major have been found to cause visceral leishmaniasis, while Leishmania infantum causes cutaneous leishmaniasis, as the causative agents of leishmaniasis are different from the known ones, the identification of the causative species has become important for the diagnosis of the disease. Molecular methods also enable personalised medicine by allowing the identification of specific genetic mutations or biomarkers that can guide disease treatment decisions. This section provides information on the molecular techniques that can be used to diagnose of leishmaniasis and the gene regions targeted and the methods used.

    Fadime Eroglu (Author)
    Professor, Aksaray University
    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2179-1326
    3Prof. Dr. Eroglu was born in Adana and completed his undergraduate education at the Biology Department of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Çukurova University in 2004, his Master’s degree at the Parasitology Department of the Faculty of Medicine of Çukurova University in 2008, and his Ph.D. at the Parasitology Department of the Faculty of Medicine of Çukurova University in 2012. She received the title of associate professor in 2018 and professor in 2023. She has been working at Aksaray University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Parasitology since 2020. Prof. Dr. Fadime Eroglu has completed 20 scientific projects, original publications in 35 international indexed journals, oral presentations in 25 international congresses and oral presentations in 30 national congresses. She has been teaching parasitology courses in Turkish and English at various universities for about 20 years.

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