Coinfection of Leptomonas seymouri and Leishmania donovani in Indian Leishmaniasis

Abstract

Leishmania donovani is considered the causative organism of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL). Testing of 4/29 DNA samples from VL and PKDL patients as well as 2/7 field isolates showed an aberrant internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) pattern, which upon sequencing strongly matched Leptomonas seymouri, thus confirming its presence in Indian leishmaniasis.

Isolation of Crithidia spp. from lesions of immunocompetent patients with suspected cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran

“…But in this study, Crithidia organisms were separated from lesions in immune‐competent patients with no underlying diseases. Consistent with our observation, there is a recent report from India indicating the occurrence of Leptomonas.symori as a lower trypanosomatids in visceral leishmaniasis patients . Sing et al .…”

A Defective Oxidative Burst and Impaired Antigen Presentation are Hallmarks of Human Visceral Leishmaniasis

“…A diagnosis of VL was made based on clinical features such as fever and hepatosplenomegaly, which was corroborated by rk39 strip test and/or Internal Transcribed Spacer sequence 1 (ITS1) PCR [7]. Heparinized blood was collected from patients with VL, at presentation and on completion of treatment along with age and sex matched healthy volunteers from a non endemic zone for VL (n=10, rk39 and ITS1 negative).…”

The evolution of trypanosomatid taxonomy

“…BHU [91]. Several similar cases have been reported since, with later studies incriminating Leptomonas seymouri as the opportunistic monoxenous agent [80, 85, 90]. In such cases, Leptomonas may be detected in bone marrow and splenic aspirates, reminiscent of VL [90].…”

“…BHU. It was proposed that the monoxenous flagellates were able to infect these patients due to immune-suppression associated with visceral leishmaniasis.2012Ghosh et al [85]In a study of Indian Leishmania donovani infected patients, 4/29 (13.8%) patients with visceral leishmaniasis and post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) were co-infected with the previously identified Leptomonas sp. BHU, which was later confirmed as Leptomonas seymouri .2013Singh et al [80]Through whole genome sequencing of the L. donovani clinical isolates from India, the presence of monoxenous trypanosomatids in cases of visceral leishmaniasis was reported as Leptomonas seymouri .…”