Infective stage of a Leishmania?
Promastigote
Leishmania has two main infective stages:
1. Promastigote stage: This is the flagellated stage of Leishmania that is found in the gut of sandflies (vector). When the sandfly takes a blood meal from an infected mammalian host, it ingests the promastigotes. These promastigotes then differentiate into the intracellular amastigotes as they reach the midgut of the sandfly.
2. Amastigote stage: This non-flagellated stage of Leishmania is the infective form of the parasite that is responsible for causing disease in mammalian hosts including humans. The amastigotes are found inside the host cells (macrophages and other mononuclear cells) where they multiply and cause infection.
Thus, during a sandfly bite, the infective promastigote stage of Leishmania is transmitted into the mammalian host, where it converts into the amastigote stage and infects the host cells.
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