Comparison of Some Molecular-genetic Techniques for Identification of Leishmania Circulating in Natural Foci of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in the Central Asia Region

Abstract

Different molecular-genetic methods were used to identify a cohort of Leishmania strains from natural foci of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis located in Central AsiaThe natural foci of Leishmania major infection comprise the vast territory of the Turan plain and coincide with the distribution of the reservoir host Rhombomys opimus. According to Dubrovsky (1978), very active leishmaniasis foci are found in irrigation oases in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (former USSR). It has, until recently, been assumed that leishmanial parasites circulating in the R. opimus population are considered to be L. major, displaying a great range of virulence and infectivity for humans. However, the introduction of new techniques for Leishmania characterization indicated that the parasites formerly identified as L. major in these areas belong to a polytype group comprising three independent species namely L. major sensu stricto, L. turanica (Strelkova et al. 1990b) and L. gerbilli. In fact, the three species are able to coexist in a single gerbil (R. opimus). L. major and L. turanica are generally found together even in the same skin lesion. Each species has its own relatively limited range of virulence; while L. major is found to be pathogenic for humans, L. turanica and L. gerbilli are not (Strelkova et al. 1990a, Strelkova 1990 All the above mentioned stress the necessity to look for feasible methods for Leishmania identification both in a single or in mixed infections. The present paper attempts to evaluate some phenotypic and genotypic techniques for this purpose and discusses their relationship to epidemiological studies. MATERIALS AND METHODSParasite strains -The strains studied are listed in Table. The isolates were obtained from patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis, from great gerbils (R. opimus) and from a sandfly (Phlebotomus papatasi) in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.Isolation of the parasites -Parasite isolations were made by injecting as much sterile saline as possible containing penicillin (250 U/ml) and streptomycin (250 mg/ml) intradermally into gerbils' affected ears. The saline was aspirated and inoculated into tubes containing NNN medium. Fragments of human cutaneous lesions were obtained using a sterile scarifier or a scalpel and transferred into tubes of NNN medium containing antibiotics as above.The tubes were incubated at 22-24 o C and examined weekly for the presence of promastigotes for up to six weeks. The positive cultures were cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen.Cloning -Clones were made using a Fonbrune micromanipulator (Alekseev & Safjanova 1977). With this micromanipulator a single promastigote

Characterization of Leishmania spp. causing cutaneous leishmaniasis in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

“…This further corroborates the reports of other researchers, including Shaw (1985), Shaw and Lainson (1987), Shaw et al (1989), Grimaldi and McMahon-Pratt (1996), Strelkova et al (1990a, b, 1997), Saravia et al (1998), Vray (1998), Bastrenta et al (2003), and Brito et al (2009), which were conducted in several regions in Brazil and in other countries. It should be noted that the findings reported by Shaw (1985) were obtained from clinical samples collected from more than one lesion per patient.…”

An overview of skin lesions adapted to Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Persian Medicine

“…Now, 22 human pathogens have been identified ( 8 ). Rodents, dogs, foxes and wolves, and sometimes horses, are considered as a reservoir of the disease ( 9 – 11 ). Humans sometimes act as a potential reservoir ( 12 ).…”