(Institut national de la recherche scientifique – INRS) Second leading cause of death by parasitic infection, visceral leishmaniasis takes advantage of a mechanism to sustain the infection. Professor Simona Stäger and her team at INRS have shown that damage from chronic inflammation induces the death of white blood cells essential to eliminating the parasite. The findings published in Cell Reports have the potential to lead to treatment and bring to light a phenomenon that may be shared by other chronic infections.