Let me introduce myself!

Hi, my name is Leishmania major! You may know me as "Aleppo boil," "Baghdad boil," "Bay sore," "Biskra button," "Chiclero ulcer," "Delhi boil," "Kandahar sore," "Lahore sore," "Oriental sore," "Pian bois," or "Uta"

Here's a bit of info on me and my relatives!

I'm a protist, as you probably already know by now.

I'm from Kingdom Protista, Phylum Euglenozoa, Class Kinetoplastida, Order Trypanosomatida, Genus Leishmania, and of course Species Leishmania major.

I have tons of relatives! Here's a list of all of them:

L. aethiopica

L. amazonensis

L. arabica

L. archibaldi (disputed species)

L. aristedesi

L. (Viannia) braziliensis

L. chagasi (syn. L. infantum)

L. (Viannia) colombiensis

L. deanei

L. donovani

L. enriettii

L. equatorensis

L. forattinii

L. garnhami

L. gerbili

L. (Viannia) guyanensis

L. herreri

L. hertigi

L. infantum

L. killicki

L. (Viannia) lainsoni

L. major

L. mexicana

L. (Viannia) naiffi

L. (Viannia) panamensis

L. (Viannia) peruviana

L. (Viannia) pifanoi

L. (Viannia) shawi

L. tarentolae

L. tropica

L. turanica

L. venezuelensis

That's a lot! Most of them are almost the same as me, they just live in different parts of the world.

Taking some selfies!

Some of you out there wanted to know what exactly I look like!
I can't describe myself very well in words, as there isn't a lot of info about me out there. Something unique about my genus is that our species are divided based not on the form and structure of the cells, but rather on the pathology and symptoms of the disease we cause!
I am a protozoan, and I have a flagella (sometimes), but some other details like my organelles and size I don't know for certain.

I've attached some pictures to this post so you guys can get a good look at me!

How I reproduce!

Here's some information on how I go about making babies!

I always reproduce asexually using binary fission while I'm inside a mammalian host. I'm a parasite, in case you didn't know.

As a trypanosomatid, L. major begins its life cycle in amastigote form in the midgut of the main vector, female sand flies. Once in the gut of the sand fly, the parasites change from aflagelated amastigotes into

flagellated promastigotes for 1–2 weeks until they are fully developed, a which point they make their way to the proboscis. Upon biting a mammalian host, promastigotes are released into the bloodstream, where they are engulfed by macrophages. Following being engulfed, promastigotes transform into amastigotes. The amastigotes then reproduce through the process of binary fission. At this point the amastigotes are released throughout the body, and can be ingested by female sand flies, thus completing the cycle.

I know that's a bit of an information overload, so let me dumb it down a bit!

- I'm born inside the stomach of a sand fly.

- I grow a flagella for a few weeks until I'm all grown up.

- I swim into the proboscis (basically the fly's nose).

- When the sand fly bites somebody, I hitch a ride!

- I transform again inside my new mammalian host.

- I go through binary fission to make copies of myself. 

- I get all over my hosts body, so when a sand fly bites my new home, I'l be back in the fly again!

Here's some more pictures of how exactly it goes down!

Where I live!

My family lives in every continent, except for Antarctica! (It's way to chilly there!) Me specifically though, I can be found in many places in the Eastern Hemisphere, specifically in Northern Africa, the Middle East, Northwestern China, and Northwestern India!

My favorite foods!

I'm a heterotroph, so I get all my energy from other living things! I'm not predator, but I still like to kill people! I'm a parasite, and I love sand flies. They help me find a mammal host that I can eat! I love all mammals, including humans!

Some interesting facts about me!

As you already know, I'm a parasite! Me and my other genus members all cause the disease Leishmaniasis. When the sand fly I'm in bites you, watch out! Now I'm inside you, and you've got Leishmaniasis! Leishmaniasis can infect most all mammals. When you get it, you'll get huge skin sores that pop up a couple weeks after you're infected. A few months down the road and you can get a fever, damaged spleen and liver, and anemia!

There are four different severities of Leishmaniasis:
- Cutaneous leishmaniasis: The most common form, which causes a sore at the bite site, which heals in a few months to a year, leaving a nasty scar. This form can turn into one of the worse forms though!
- Diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis: This produces widespread skin lesions which resemble leprosy, and is really hard to treat!
- Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis: First you get skin ulcers, which then spread, causing tissue damage, particularly to the nose and mouth!
- Visceral leishmaniasis: The most serious form! Potentially fatal if untreated! Good for me, but not so good for you!

So while I may not be very useful to you or very "important", I can be deadly, so watch out!

There are a few things that can stop me though. I don't like to be around antimony, Amphotericin B, or Miltefosine. They're like my Kryptonite!

Here's a few pictures of the disease I cause: