A Mother's Gift: Congenital Transmission of Trypanosoma and Leishmania Species: e1005302

Kinetoplastids Leishmania infantum and Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agents of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL) and Chagas' disease (CD), respectively, can both be transmitted vertically in utero from mother to infant [1]. Serologic tests include enzyme immunoassay (EIA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), or indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA), although cross reaction with Leishmania spp. is a potential problem, diminishing the reliability of antibody-based assays as first-line diagnostics [20]. What Can Be Done to Reduce the Risk of Vertical Transmission? CD and ZVL vertical transmission risk increases when mothers have an increased parasite load, are co-infected with other pathogens, or have other co-morbid immunosuppressive disease with subsequent lack of an appropriate immune response to T. cruzi or L. infantum infection [1,5,21,33,40].