PARASITE-HOST RELATIONSHIPS - IN-SITU STUDY OF LEISHMANIA SPP IN RESISTANT AND SUSCEPTIBLE MICE

The host's skin is a critical tissue in the natural life cycle of the Leishmania spp. known to cause an 'asymptomatic' infectious process or cutaneous or visceral leishmaniasis in mammals. The dermis, once dist urbed by the inoculation of infective parasites, becomes a site of dyn amic events, the progression of which depends upon both host and paras ite characteristics. Whatever the final site of the morbidity caused b y the parasites, whether it be cutaneous, visceral or muco-cutanous, t his site reflects the parasite and host's ability to create a pro- or anti-parasite micro-environment. The characteristics of this environme nt are now amenable to analysis in situ, as illustrated by the study o f the cutaneous processes initiated by inoculation of Leishmania major in laboratory mice.