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PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Issue Image | Vol. 9(2) February 2015

A bite to remember.

The sandfly Phlebotomus papatasi is the vector of Leishmania major, which is responsible for most cases of Old World cutaneous leishmaniasis in Saudi Arabia. In endemic areas, people can be exposed to hundreds of bites every night, thus increasing their risk of contracting the disease. Sandflies inject saliva while feeding and the salivary protein PpSP32 was previously shown to be a biomarker for bite exposure. The authors used recombinant PpSP32 to study the association between antibody response to saliva and disease outcome. See Acosta-Serrano et al.

Image Credit: Mondragon-Shem K.

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A bite to remember.

The sandfly Phlebotomus papatasi is the vector of Leishmania major, which is responsible for most cases of Old World cutaneous leishmaniasis in Saudi Arabia. In endemic areas, people can be exposed to hundreds of bites every night, thus increasing their risk of contracting the disease. Sandflies inject saliva while feeding and the salivary protein PpSP32 was previously shown to be a biomarker for bite exposure. The authors used recombinant PpSP32 to study the association between antibody response to saliva and disease outcome. See Acosta-Serrano et al.

Image Credit: Mondragon-Shem K.

https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pntd.v09.i02.g001