The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Project in India

Leishmaniasis, also called black fever or kala-azar is the second most prevalent vector-borne disease in the world, surpassed

only by malaria. Vector-borne diseases carried by animals - most often an insect that feeds on blood and delivers a parasite

or virus during its blood meal. There are three types leishmaniasis caused by a number of parasite species within the genus

Leishmania. The most dangerous type is visceral leishmaniasis which attacks the organs and without an extended period

of treatment is almost always fatal. Although leishmaniasis is found in 62 countries including the United States. India has

more cases and higher mortalities due to visceral leishmaniasis than any country in the world.

Genesis Laboratories has received a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant to conduct research on potential reservoir

hosts of leishmaniasis with the objective of developing methods to prevent the disease rather than cure it. Our work in India

is located in the Bihar Province, the state where most of the cases occur, and we have come up with some exciting, new

ideas. We will keep you updated on our progress through this website.

 "You have to be humble in what we are doing, but you also have to be bold. You have to ask
yourself, 'Are we going to feed people or sit behind ivory towers and argue about how we
should do it?' I want people to live and survive, so we will get out there and try something.
If it doesn't work, we will try something else. And we will keep trying until we find something
that works."

                                                                            Melinda Gates