Multifarious characterization of leishmania tropica from a Judean desert focus, exposing intraspecific diversity and incriminating phlebotomus sergenti as its vector.

The predominant sand fly species collected inside houses in Kfar Adumim, an Israeli village in the Judean Desert that is a focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis, was Phlebotomus papatasi, which was also caught attempting to bite humans. Phlebotomus sergenti, which is rarely seen inside houses, constituted the predominant sand fly species in caves near the village. Leishmania isolates from Ph.