Leishmaniasis emergence in Europe
Eurosurveillance·
- DOI
- 10.2807/ese.15.10.19505-en
- PMID
- 20403308
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W2306346490
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC)
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
Findings inform EU-level risk assessment of leishmaniasis introduction and spread, highlighting surveillance, travel-related dog movement, and climate/land-use change as actionable axes for prevention and preparedness.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The article reviews the emergence of leishmaniasis in Europe, characterizing disease burden, transmission, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, current distribution, and potential drivers of geographic change, and assesses short- and long-term risk of introduction and spread within the EU.
Study design
Narrative literature review of evidence available up to and including 2009, integrating epidemiology, diagnostics, treatment, prevention, and risk-prediction considerations.
Population and setting
European setting, with explicit reference to the EU and to southern European Mediterranean countries, including a mention of periodic outbreaks in Greece.
Main findings
The risk of introducing exotic Leishmania species into the EU is low due to the absence of proven vectors and/or reservoir hosts. The principal threat is the spread of the two endemic EU parasites, Leishmania infantum (zoonotic, with domestic dogs as reservoir) and L. tropica (anthroponotic, with a vector already present in southern Europe and periodic outbreaks in Greece). The northward spread of L. infantum is contingent on climate and land cover permitting vector biting rates comparable to southern Europe, and increasing dog travel is identified as a significant risk pathway for introduction into northern Europe, with a noted need to investigate non-vectorial dog-to-dog transmission.
Public-health relevance
Findings inform EU-level risk assessment of leishmaniasis introduction and spread, highlighting surveillance, travel-related dog movement, and climate/land-use change as actionable axes for prevention and preparedness.
Important limitations
No explicit limitations are stated in the supplied abstract. This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and bibliographic metadata and should not be treated as decision-grade without consulting the original paper.
GIDS interpretation
This 2010 review provides historical context for the emergence of leishmaniasis in Europe and frames distribution-change drivers (vectors, reservoir hosts, travel, climate/environment). It does not by itself confirm any current surveillance signal; any linkage to present-day GIDS activity would require the original paper and contemporary data.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 12 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.