Potential anti-leishmanial remedies from natural sources

Leishmaniasis is caused by a protozoa parasite from over 20 Leishmania species. Over 90 sandfly species are known to transmit Leishmania parasites. There are 3 main forms of the disease, visceral (the most serious form because it is almost always fatal without treatment), cutaneous (the most common, usually causing skin ulcers), and mucocutaneous (affecting mouth, nose and throat). The disease affects some of the world’s poorest people and is associated with malnutrition, population displacement, poor housing, a weak immune system and lack of financial resources. An estimated 700 000 to 1 million new cases occur annually. Chemotherapy based on the use of pentavalent antimonials, amphotericin B, paromomycin, miltefosine and liposomal amphotericin B, is currently the only effective treatment. However, adverse effects, long-term treatment and the emergence of parasite resistance have led to the search for alternative treatments. In this review, PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, EBSCO, Science Direct, and Scopus were searched for medicinal plants with anti lieshmanial activity to encourage identification of the active ingredients, determination of clinical efficacy, investigation of the mode of action and safety.