Leishmaniases are vector-borne diseases transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies. Three species of Leishmania are found in the Mediterranean basin: Leishmania infantum, the most common species responsible for both visceral (VL) and cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL); Leishmania major, found in North Africa and Middle East causing CL; Leishmania tropica with a limited presence in Europe, causing CL. Dur...

BACKGROUND Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a major public health problem in Libya. The objective of this study was to investigate, for the first time, epidemiological features of CL outbreaks in Libya including molecular identification of parasites, the geographical distribution of cases and possible scenarios of parasite transmission. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We studied 450 patients th...

During September 2010, 133 female sand flies were caught inside houses of patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis in the focus for this disease in southeastern Tunisia and subsequently dissected. One specimen was positive for Leishmania protozoa. This sand fly species was identified as Phlebotomus sergenti, and the parasite was identified as L. tropica. This is the first report of P. sergenti inv...

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 ...

Both cutaneous and visceral forms of leishmaniasis are prevalent in some parts of the Islamic Republic of Iran [1,2]. The Mediterranean type of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is also reported sporadically throughout the country [3] with canines being the main animal reservoir hosts [4]. The cutaneous form of leishmaniasis is seen in 2 forms: anthroponotic and zoonotic. Anthroponotic cutaneous leis...

The most common form of the disease is cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) which is a public health and social problem in many countries especially Iran. In endemic areas where other diseases with similar clinical symptoms occur, definitive diagnosis of CL is very important. The detection and identification of Leishmania in infected patients is crucial for achieving a correct treatment and prognosis. ...

three species of l. tropica, l. major and l. infantum are known as main causal agents of leishmaniasis have been reported in iran. since cutaneous leishmaniasis (cl) is endemic in north east of iran, in the present work, 50 leishmania positive isolates from human cases in mashhad (center of razavi province, north east of iran), were genotyped by means of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fr...

Proliferation of Leishmania (L.) parasites depends on polyamine availability, which can be generated by the L-arginine catabolism and the enzymatic activity of arginase (ARG) of the parasites and of the mammalian hosts. In the present study, we characterized and compared the arginase (arg) genes from pathogenic L. major and L. tropica and from non-pathogenic L. tarentolae. We quantified the lev...

Leishmania tropica is the causative agent of Old World anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis, which is characterized by lesions that take an extended period of time to heal, often resulting in disfiguring scars, and are more refractory to treatment than leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania major. Immunologic studies involving experimental animal models of L. tropica infection are virtually nonexi...

During a survey of wild canids, internal transcribed spacer 1 real-time PCR and high-resolution melt analysis identified Leishmania tropica in samples from jackals and foxes. Infection was most prevalent in ear and spleen samples. Jackals and foxes may play a role in the spread of zoonotic L. tropica.