Leishmania (L.) tropica is a causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis, and occasionally of visceral or viscerotropic leishmaniasis in humans. Murine models of Leishmania infection have been proven to be useful for elucidation of mechanisms for pathogenesis and immunity in leishmaniasis. The aim of this study was to establish a murine model for human viscerotropic leishmaniasis, and the growth...

BACKGROUND L. tropica can cause both cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis in humans. Although the L. tropica-induced cutaneous disease has been long known, its potential to visceralize in humans was recognized only recently. As nothing is known about the genetics of host responses to this infection and their clinical impact, we developed an informative animal model. We described previously that...

Cutaneous leishmaniasis has various phenotypic aspects consisting of polymorphic amastigotes with different genetic ranges. Samples were collected from suspected patients of Khuzestan province. Prepared smears were stained, scaled, and measured using ocular micrometer. The Cyt b, ITS-rDNA, and microsatellite genes of Leishmania were amplified and Leishmania species were identified by molecular ...

Leishmania tropica is one of the causative agents of leishmaniasis in humans. Routes of infection have been reported to be an important variable for some species of Leishmania parasites. The role of this variable is not clear for L. tropica infection. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of route of L. tropica infection on the disease outcome and immunologic parameters in BALB/c mic...

This study describes a new focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) due to Leishmania tropica, in the Galilee region of northern Israel. Thirty-three cases from 4 villages (northern part) and from the city of Tiberias (southern part) have been clinically diagnosed since 1996. Parasites from 13 patients and from 6 sand flies were characterized by isoenzyme electrophoresis, 2 immunological methods, ...

BACKGROUND Cutaneous leishmaniasis constitutes a major public health problem in many parts of the world including Iran. The primary objective of this study was to identify Leishmania species in endemic districts of Kerman Province, south-eastern Iran. METHODS This study was conducted by random sampling as cross- sectional descriptive between 2008 and 2010. Overall, 203 skin scraping smears we...

materials and methods the l. tropica strain was attenuated using continuous passaging 20 times. the infectivity of l. tropica was confirmed in balb/c mice. the l. tropica resistant strain was produced in vitro using a continuous increase in drug pressure. the cross resistance of l. tropica to other drugs was also investigated. results after 20 continuous passages, the balb/c mice tested negativ...

BACKGROUND The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of methotrexate (MTX) alone and in combination with meglumine antimoniate (MA, Glucantime) against sensitive and MA-resistant Leishmania tropica stages in vitro. METHODS The present study was carried out in 2014 in Leishmaniasis Research Center at School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical sciences, Kerman, Iran. The effects of M...

Phlebotomus sergenti Parrot, 1917 is the main vector of Leishmania tropica; however, its broad geographical range and molecular heterogeneity suggest possible variability in vector competence. We infected laboratory-reared P. sergenti originating from Turkey and Israel to compare their susceptibility to L. tropica. In both tested groups, heavy late-stage infections with the presence of metacycl...

The ability of the sand fly Phlebotomus (Adlerius) arabicus to transmit Leishmania tropica was studied experimentally using hyraxes (Procavia capensis), natural reservoir hosts of the parasite. Sand flies became infected with L. tropica after feeding on a lesion of needle-inoculated hyrax. Moreover, P. arabicus fed with L. tropica promastigotes transmitted the parasite to hyraxes by bite during...