Conclusion and future perspectives
Leishmaniasis still remains as a big public health challenge in some parts of the world. Despite developments in scientific knowledge and medical technology, there is still a need for quick and cheap detection of Leishmania infections especially in endemic areas.
Studies focusing on molecular microbiological methods can help to develop new diagnostic methods.In terms of treatment of leishmaniasis, emerging resistance is a big threat for infectious disease specialists like in other microbial diseases. There are two arms of fight. One is the development of a successful vaccine, and the other is the progress of finding new compounds to cure the infection. If applicable early treatment should be applied in order to further prevent the spreading of the parasite. Having no effective human vaccines puts the disease at this critical point. That is why studies focusing on the development of vaccine will be pathfinder in the future decade. On the other hand, studies evaluating the antileish- manial activity of various natural products or chemically modified compounds are needed to find new opportunities in successful treatment of Leishmania infections for the future.
Acknowledgements
The author wants to express his special thanks to Namik Refik Kerkuklu for his kind help during the preperation of this chapter.