Visceral Leishmaniasis

Visceral Leishmaniasis: Therapeutics and Vaccines describes current therapeutics, natural anti-leishmanial molecules, anti-leishmanial screening, and explores vaccine candidates and amastigote-based vaccination strategies for Leishmania. The book provides a precise view on VL, Leishmania parasite culture, host immunity and immunomodulation, natural compounds effective against VL, animal models for VL, and methodologies available for anti-leishmanial drug screening procedures against VL, as well as vaccine and vaccination-related information on Leishmaniasis.  Readers will find concrete information on past and current hurdles facing vaccine development for Leishmania, along with scientific opportunities and the potential impact of vaccines, including problems encountered. The book is designed to increase the understanding of vaccines, particularly in VL, for students and researchers. Although vaccines are now available for many diseases, there are still challenges ahead for a vaccine for VL. The ideal vaccine must be safe and able to induce an immune response that is strong and effective. In a nutshell, a combination of chemotherapy (drugs) and immunoprophylaxis (vaccine) would be ideal to win the battle against VL. - Provides the first dedicated book on Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) and anti-leishmanial screening - Covers major aspects of the fatal disease Visceral Leishmaniasis - Provides plenty of illustrations and figures - Includes methods of anti-leishmanial drug screening - Expands the perspective of readers on the complex problem of drug screening

Dr. Awanish Kumar is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at the National Institute of Technology, Raipur (CG), India. He has more than 13 years of research experience. He received his PhD in Molecular Parasitology from the CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India, and Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India, and completed his postdoctoral studies at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. His research interests are infection biology, drug targeting, and drug discovery. Dr. Kumar has served on various national and international organizations in different academic and research capacities. He has also served on many national committees and scientific advisory panels, as a member of many international professional research societies, and as a reviewer and editorial board member of reputed and refereed journals. He has authored or edited several monographs, books, and book chapters.