Scientific Programme

Please find below the provisional program for LeishVet UP! 2026

Friday 16th October, 2026

  LEISHVET UP!, UPDATE FOR PRACTITIONERS
11:00 - 13:45 Registration Opens at the Rikli Balance Hotel
12:30 - 13:45 Light Lunch
14:00 - 15:00 Opening. Plenary Lecture by an Invited Speaker
15:00 - 16:00 Keynote Lectures by LeishVet Members on Canine and Feline Leishmaniosis
16:00 - 16:30 Coffee Break, Commercial Exhibition
16:30 - 18:00 Keynote Lectures by LeishVet Members on Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Leishmaniosis
19:30 Social Dinner

Saturday 17th October, 2026

  LEISHVET UP!, UPDATE FOR PRACTITIONERS
08:30 - 10:30 PART I: 4 Lectures by LeishVet Members
Main Hot Topics: Serology/PCR, Co-Infections, Treatment in Immune-Mediated Diseases, FeL Diagnosis, FeL Clinical Staging/Management, Circulating Immune Complexes Disease Management, Treatment Failure, CanL Uncommon Clinical Presentations, Public Health Considerations
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee Break, Commercial Exhibition
11:00 - 13:00 PART II: 4 Lectures by LeishVet Members
Continuing with Hot Topics.
13:00 - 14:15 Lunch
14:30 - 16:30 Clinical Cases. Small Group Discussions
16:30 Closing and Coffee Break

This programme is subject to change and will be completed in the near future with further details.
  Research Stream Clinical Stream
08:30 - 09:00 Opening Ceremony
09:00 - 09:45 Plenary Session | Jorge Alvar
Control of visceral leishmaniasis: successes, risks and expectations


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10:00 - 10:45 Session 1: “Around the vectors”
Oral Communications		 Keynote Speaker - Marta Leiva
Top three ophthalmic challenges in the management of animal leishmaniosis

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10:45 - 11:30 Coffee-Break | Poster Session | Commercial Exhibition
11:30 - 12:15 Keynote Speaker - Carla Maia
Phlebotomine sand flies – small vectors causing major problems in public and animal health

Read more		 Session 2: "Evaluation in the fields"
Oral Communications
12:15 - 12:30 Session 1 cont.: “Around the vectors”
Oral Communications
12:30 - 13:15 Round Table
Vectorial and non-vectorial transmission		 Round Table
The post-treatment management of leishmaniosis (endemic and non-endemic areas)
13:15 - 14:15 Lunch
14:15 - 15:00 Session 3: "Prospective for control"
Oral Communications		 Keynote Speaker - Chiara Noli
Expect the unexpected: usual and unusual skin lesions in canine leishmaniosis

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15:00 - 15:15 Session 4: "Immune response, consequences"
Oral Communications
15:15 - 16:00 Keynote Speaker - Christopher Fernandez-Prada
Extracellular vesicles and canine leishmaniosis: friends or foes?

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16:00 - 16:45 Coffee-Break | Poster Session | Commercial Exhibition
16:45 - 17:30 Session 3 cont.: “Prospective for control”
Oral Communications		 Session 4 cont.: “Immune response, consequences”
Oral Communications
17:30 - 18:15 Round Table
Drug resistance		 Round Table
Leishmaniosis and immune mediated diseases: diagnostic and therapeutic challenges
19:15 Bus departure for Gala Dinner at the Chagall Museum
  Research Stream Clinical Stream
08:00 - 08:45 Informal Get Together (young scientists and clinicians breakfast with LeishVet group)
09:00 - 09:45 Session 5: "Epidemiology: around the Leishmanias"
Oral Communications		 Keynote Speaker - Manolis Saridomichelakis
When should clinicians suspect feline leishmaniosis?

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09:45 - 10:00 Session 6: "Monitoring"
Oral Communications
10:00 - 10:45 Keynote Speaker - Christine Petersen
Dogma, ecology, and potential reservoirs for Leishmania donovani in Bihar, India

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10:45 - 11:30 Coffee-Break | Poster Session | Commercial Exhibition
11:30 - 12:15 Session 5 cont.: "Epidemiology: around the Leishmanias"
Oral Communications		 Session 6 cont.: "Monitoring"
Oral Communications
12:15 - 13:00 Round Table
Leishmaniases: many diseases, One Health		 Round Table
Coinfections
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
14:00 - 14:45 Session 7: "One Health"
Oral Communications		 Keynote Speaker - Lluís Ferrer
The conundrum of clinical relapses in canine leishmaniosis

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14:45 - 15:00 Session 8: "Diagnosis"
Oral Communications
15:00 - 15:45 Keynote Speaker - Filipe Dantas-Torres
Other Leishmania species infecting dogs: zoonotic and clinical significance

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15:45 - 16:30 Coffee-Break | Poster Session | Commercial Exhibition
16:30 - 17:00 Session 7 cont.: "One Health"
Oral Communications		 Session 8 cont.: "Diagnosis"
Oral Communications
17:00 - 17:30 Closing Ceremony