The malnutrition-related increase in early visceralization of Leishmania donovani is associated with a reduced number of lymph node phagocytes and altered conduit system flow.

• Published in: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Marwa K Ibrahim, Jeffrey L Barnes, Gregory M Anstead, Fabio Jimenez, Bruno L Travi, Alex G Peniche, E Yaneth Osorio, Seema S Ahuja, Peter C Melby
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic; Moma
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002329; https://doaj.org/article/f2da2d27d5224298a987a5f1fc4c32c3

In a murine model of moderate childhood malnutrition we found that polynutrient deficiency led to a 4-5-fold increase in early visceralization of L. donovani (3 days post-infection) following cutaneous infection and a 16-fold decrease in lymph node barrier function (p<0.04 for all). To begin to u...