First successful in vitro culture of Leishmania sp. causing autochthonous visceral leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka.

The first autochthonous case of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Sri Lanka was reported in 2007 [1], more than a decade after the first report of autochthonous cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in 1992 [2]. Since 2007 only three endemic patients with confirmed VL was reported from the country (two from the Anuradhapura district), and the current report is on the third patient (from the Vavuniya district). Few cases of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL) have been reported in the country to date [3, 4]. However, thus far successful in vitro culture of the Leishmania parasite could be carried out only in the strains giving rise to cutaneous leishmaniasis [5]. We report the first successful in vitro culture of Leishmania sp. causing endogenous VL in Sri Lanka.