Worldleish

An International Congress on Leishmania & Leishmaniasis

Why ?  Cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral leishmaniases are serious diseases, which are vector-borne and wide-spread in more than 90 countries, putting 350 million population at risk. WHO estimates an annual incidence of 2 million and a total of 12 million current cases. The causative agents are various species of trypanosomatid protozoa in the genus of Leishmania, which are excellent models for aspects of laboratory studied in cell/molecular biology, biochemistry, immunology of host-parasite interactions.

Who ? Anyone interested in Leishmania and leishmaniasis is welcome to participate, including individuals of private and public academic institutions, charitable organizations, advocacy groups, government officials/ representatives, for-profit private sectors and their friends/affiliates.

 When/where ? Every four years preferably in a country endemic to leishmaniasis.

What ? Bring laboratory researchers and field workers from all disciplinary areas together for sharing new discoveries and exchange of new ideas. Provide opportunities of international collaboration, industrial participation, charitable donation and training of the next generation.

WorldLeish 5 was organized by our Brazilian colleagues in Recife in May, 2013. A total of 1,377 leishmaniacs from 50 different countries participated in this meetig and of these 822 were students.  

On behalf of the founders of WL, I wish to congratulate WL5 organizers Sinval, Carlos, Claude, Jeff for their hard work to bring WL5 to a conclusion for the first time in America. WL meetings have continued to reach its goals by attracting more participants. I anticipate the continuation of this success in the years to come. I also wish to thank all WL Scientific Committee members for their contributions to make WL5 possible.

 WorldLeish recognizes and appreciates all the progress that has been accomplished in all areas. As the founders of WorldLeish, our major aim is to bring all leishmaniacs in different disciplinary areas together for interactions and exchange of ideas so that more progress can be made in the future.

Now, it is time to think about the next meeting, which will be open to applications by interested leishmaniacs in 2015 for organizing WL6 in 2017. The call for organizing WL6 will be open via Worldleish website as before. As always, we look forward to your input of comments and suggestions.

Thank you all for supporting WL. With our best regards,

                                                                                           Prof. Dr. M. Ali Ozcel
on behalf of WL founders