molecular detection of leishmania major in the vectors and reservoir hosts of cutaneous leishmaniasis in kalaleh district, golestan province, iran

background: an epidemiological study was carried out on the vector(s) and reservoir(s) of cutaneous leishmaniasis in rural areas of kalaleh district, golestan province during 2006 - 2007. methods: totally 4900 sand flies were collected using sticky papers and were subjected to molecular methods for de­tection of leishmanial parasite. results: phlebotomus papatasi was the common species in outdoor and indoor resting places. employing pcr tech­nique showed only 1 out of 372 p. papatasi (0.3%) was positive to parasite due leishmania major. sixteen ro­dent reservoir hosts were captured by sherman traps and identified as rhombomys opimus . microscopic investiga­tion on blood smear of the animals for amastigote parasites revealed 6(37.5%) infected rodents. infection of these ani­mals to l. major was then confirmed by pcr against rdna loci of the parasite. conclusion: this is the first molecular report of parasite infection of both vector ( p. papatas ) and reservoir ( r. opimus ) to l. major . the results indicated that p. papatas was the primary vector of the disease and circulating the para­site between human and reservoirs, and r. opimus was the most important host reservoir for maintenance of the para­site source in the area.