Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A taxonomic genus within the family Trypanosomatidae — parasitic protozoans, a trypanosome, transmitted by sandflies and which cause disease in humans and other vertebrates.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

After William Boog Leishman +‎ -ia

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Examples

  • The Edinburgh University team led by Toni Aebischer has genetically designed a special fluorescent version of a parasite known as Leishmania mexicana.

    unknown title 2008

  • A macrophage crawls over the parasite, detects the complement, and opens a hole in its membrane to engulf Leishmania.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • Parasitologists have run experiments in which they infected mice with Leishmania and siphoned off the inflammatory T cells made by the mice who survived the disease.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • Plasmodium and Leishmania are fussy about where they live, able to survive only in certain types of cells.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • And a third Leishmania parasite, Leishmania brasiliensis, causes espundia, in which the parasite chews away at the soft tissue of the head until its victim is faceless.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • In this last category is the protozoan Leishmania.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • Leishmania major causes Oriental sore—an annoying blister that heals itself like a canker.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • Leishmania can cause a few sores or eat away your face, depending on the species.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • In 1990, a biologist named Bobbi Low at the University of Michigan reviewed the marriage systems in cultures plagued with parasites such as blood flukes, Leishmania, and trypanosomes.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • And that seems, in fact, to be what happens inside people who manage to fight off Leishmania.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

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