Diagnosis and Characterization of Leishmania Species in Patients and Rodents Giemsa-Stained Slides by PCR-RFLP in Damghan District, Iran

Introduction & Leishmaniasis is one of the most important infectious diseases in the world. This disease is reported from more than 15 provinces of Iran as a health problem. Identification of reservoirs and characterization of parasite species in patients is very important for identifying the epidemiological aspects of disease and planning for control program This survey was performed as a descriptive study by PCR-RFLP method in Damghan district. Study was carried out on giemsa-stained smears from cases of leishmaniasis and rodents which collected in infected villages that leishmanal infection was confirmed by microscopic observations. DNA of giemsa-stained slides was extracted and followed by conventional PCR technique using specific primers of ITS1. PCR products were digested with a restriction enzyme (HaeIII). Totally 25 smears from human skin lesions and 8 rodent ear scrapings were examined by PCR. Electrophoresis results showed that leishmania major was present in patients and rodents giemsa-stained slides. PCR-RFLP is an effective method to identify leishmania species from giemsa-stained smears which have been collected from humans and animal reservoirs. Using this method identification of causative species of leishmaniasis is possible without sequencing.