Molecular identification of Leishmania isolates obtained from patients suspected as having cutaneous leishmaniasis referred to reference laboratories from Yazd province in central Iran

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) continues to be an increasing public health problem in Iran. The dominant etiologic agents of CL in the Old World are Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica. One of the important endemic foci of CL in Iran is Yazd. Recently, previous studies showed the equal prevalence of L. major and L. tropica as the agents of cutaneous leishmaniasis in this area. This prompted us to identify the genotype of L. major isolates obtained from patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Materials and methods: After completing a clinical/epidemiologic data questionnaire for 218 patients with suspected skin lesions, scraping samples were collected, and each specimen was examined using both direct microscopy and molecular assay of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).

Results: Results showed that of the 218 samples, Leishman body was observed in 77 by direct smear and 104 by PCR assay. Molecular assay indicated 50 cases as L. major, 52 cases as L. tropica, and two cases as unknown. Molecular characterization of L. major isolates showed four patterns, named LmA1, LmA2, LmA3, and LmA4.

Conclusion: Our study is the first report for molecular characterization of L. major from one of the important central province of Iran that could affect the control strategies in this field.