In this study, isozyme patterns for 14 different enzymes were compared for culture strains of Leishmania braziliensis, L. hertigi, L. mexicana, L. donovani, L. tropica, and L. adleri. The isozyme separation was made by means of cellulose acetate electrophoresis. Each of the species had distinct isozyme patterns for aspartate aminotransferase, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, and fructokinase. For other enzymes, two or more species had identically migrating bands; however, by using combinations of the other 10 enzymes it was possible to separate any one of the six species. In addition to these interspecific differences the Panama strains of L. braziliensis had two different malic dehydrogenase isozyme patterns; therefore, they fell into two distinct groups. These strains otherwise had identical isozyme patterns.
Abstract. The Panamanian Ministry of Health, through the Interamerican Development Bank, contracted the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory to conduct epidemiologic studies on leishmaniasis and malaria in eastern Panama from July 1984 through June 1985. Preliminary results of the biomedical and entomologic teams investigating the epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the eastern part of the country are presented in this short report. The principal findings of the study revealed 1) a large disparity in the incidence and prevalence of the disease among the five communities investigated; 2) the appearance of self-cures without the benefit of effective treatment; 3) a relatively high percentage of subclinical cases; and 4) determination of the sandfly vector species for each community. Also reported here is a case of a double infection with two distinct species of Leishmania, L. mexicana and L. amazonensis, in a single individual.The present study investigated epidemiologic parameters of cutaneous leishmaniasis among five communities in eastern Panama in which week-long surveys were conducted. This study was reviewed and approved by the Panamanian Ministry of Health. Four of these study sites (San Miguel, Torti, Santa Fe, and Meteti) are adjacent to the Interamerican Highway (Figure 1). The fifth community (Boca de Sabalo) is located in the extreme southeastern part of the country, and was accessed by boat via an extensive river system (Figure 1). Although the primitive working conditions in the communities precluded isolation and characterization of the parasite, it was assumed that all of the cases of leishmaniasis encountered were due to Leishmania panamensis since it has been the predominant species identified from human cases in Panama. However, several months after the termination of the project, one of the investigators (JLP) developed a lesion from which a biopsy specimen was obtained and found to be caused by L. amazonensis. 1 The locality in which the infection occurred could not be determined since this investigator traveled extensively throughout Panama during the study period.In 1977, several U.S. soldiers conducting jungle exercises near the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal developed leishmaniasis identified by personnel at Gorgas Memorial Laboratory (GML) as caused by L. amazonensis.1,2 In October 1986, the first indigenous case of infection with L. mexicana in Panama was isolated from one of two lesions from a young mestizo individual involved in hunting and agriculture in the northern and eastern part of the country. 1 Eight subsequent clones of parasites from each lesion revealed a double infection with L. mexicana and L. amazonensis. A new species, L. colombiensis, was isolated from four sand flies and a sloth in Panama, and from two humans and a sand fly in Colombia. 3 With regard to the remaining two species indigenous to Panama, L. hertigi appears to be host-specific for the porcupine Coendou rothschildi, and L. aristidesi is known only from a single focus in a coastal forest in eastern Panam...
Rhodnius pallescens, reported to be the principal vector of Chagas' disease in central Panama, has been shown to feed on opossums, anteaters, sloths, rodents, birds and, rarely, lizards in sylvatic habitats in this country; however, the extent of its anthropophagic affinities in rural areas has never been determined. The host selections of 1,340 R. pallescens from domestic and peridomestic habitats of three Panamanian villages were determined by microcapillary precipitin tests. Slightly more than half of the triatomines collected in houses and nearby palm trees and bird nests had fed on humans. Opossums, which are important reservoirs of Trypanosoma cruzi in Panama, were the second most frequently selected host. The importance for the transmission of Chagas' disease to humans of the close relationship between the principal vector and reservoir in sylvatic and peridomestic environments and the anthropophagy of the former is discussed. Pigeons and chickens were the dominant bloodmeal sources of triatomines collected in their respective shelters. The roof rat, Rattus rattus, was the third most common mammalian host, and may represent an ancillary reservoir in the transmission of Chagas' diseases in rural areas of Panama.
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