Geographical distribution and epidemiological features of Old World cutaneous leishmaniasis foci, based on the isoenzyme analysis of 1048 strains.

A series of 1048 Leishmania strains from Old World cutaneous leishmaniasis foci, isolated between 1981 and 2005, were studied by isoenzyme analysis. The strains were obtained from humans, rodents, dogs and sandflies from 33 countries. The four typically dermotropic species, Leishmania major, L.

Isoenzymatic analysis of 712 strains of Leishmania infantum in the south of France and relationship of enzymatic polymorphism to clinical and epidemiological features.

In the south of France, leishmaniasis due to Leishmania infantum occurs in the following five foci of endemicity (from west to east): Pyrénées-Orientales, Cévennes, Provence, Côte d'Azur, and Corsica. Between 1981 and 2002, 712 Leishmania strains obtained from humans, dogs, cats, and sand flies were studied by isoenzyme analysis. In total, seven zymodemes were identified: MON-1, MON-11, MON-24, MON-29, MON-33, MON-34, and MON-108.

A previously unclassified trypanosomatid responsible for human cutaneous lesions in Martinique (French West Indies) is the most divergent member of the genus Leishmania ss.

Two cases of skin lesions similar to those caused by Leishmania parasites have been reported from Martinique. Parasites isolated from these lesions were unlike Leishmania reference strains by isoenzyme analysis and electron microscopy and were assumed to be monoxenous trypanosomatids which normally only infect invertebrates. Both strains have now been retyped by isoenzyme analysis and found to be identical to each other and distantly related to all other Leishmania species.

Sudan: the possible original focus of visceral leishmaniasis.

Fifty-two Leishmania strains, obtained from human patients and dogs in a visceral leishmaniasis focus in Sudan, were characterized by isoenzyme electrophoresis (15 enzymes). The phylogenetic analysis showed that the 7 Leishmania zymodemes obtained hold ancestral positions on the phylogenetic tree, supporting the hypothesis of an East African origin of visceral leishmaniasis.

Enzymatic polymorphism and phylogenetic relationships in Leishmania Ross, 1903 (Sarcomastigophora: Kinetoplastida): a case study in Colombia.

Leishmaniasis is widespread in Colombia and is found in 30 of 32 Departments. More than 200 infection zones have been reported from different regions, which vary from sea-level to an altitude of 2,300 m along the Atlantic Coast, Pacific coast, Amazon basin, Cauca and Magdalena valleys. We report 76 Leishmania stocks isolated from humans, dogs and phlebotomine hosts.

[Canine leishmaniasis from Leishmania infantum: value and production of the latex test. Ecoepidemiologic applications].

The authors relate the realization, evaluation and eco-epidemiological applications of a "field-test": the agglutination of latex particles coated with a soluble antigen of Leishmania infantum in the presence of homologous antibodies. Evaluated on 1,035 canine sera, the sensitivity of the latex agglutination test (LAT) was 93.4% compared to the indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT).

Phylogenetic taxonomy of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis based on isoenzymatic study of 137 isolates.

Biochemical characterization of 137 Leishmania braziliensis isolates from South and Central America, and from selected endemic foci in Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia, performed by isoenzymatic electrophoresis using 10 enzymatic systems, showed a high enzymatic polymorphism (44 zymodemes obtained) based on the variation of a small number of enzymes. Cladistic analysis showed close links between the zymodemes within the L. braziliensis s.

[Leishmania tropica in Morocco. IV--Intrafocal enzyme diversity].

Ecoepidemiological analysis of a Moroccan focus of leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania tropica revealed considerable enzymatic diversity. Seven zymodemes belonging to the complex were identified in 149 strains isolated from humans, dogs, and the vector Phlebotomus sergenti. Three distinct subgroups were identifiable, two of which were in turn, composed of three "small variant" zymodemes.

[Cell fusion in Leishmania (Kinetoplastida, Trypanosomatidae)].

Cell fusion in Leishmania infantum and L. tropica was recorded by means of a camera and a video system. Promastigotes were obtained from cultures in both cases.

Taxonomy of Leishmania. Use of isoenzymes. Suggestions for a new classification.

The authors propose a new classification for the genus Leishmania Ross, 1903 based both on the use of intrinsic and extrinsic characters and on Linnean and Adansonian methods. The type of vertebrate host makes it possible to recognize the genus group: Leishmania designates Kinetoplastida parasites of mammals. Neighbouring forms which parasite reptiles are now grouped in the genus Sauroleishmania Ranque, 1973.

[Presence in Morocco of Phlebotomus (Paraphlebotomus) kazeruni Theodor and Mesghali, 1964].

A report is made of Phlebotomus kazeruni on southern Marocco (Tata and Ouarzazate Provinces). This sandflies was previously known only from Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

[Isolation of Leishmania major Yakimoff and Shokhor, 1914 (Kinetoplastida-Trypanosomatidae) in Meriones shawi-shawi (Duvernoy, 1842) (Rodentia-Gerbillidae) in Tunisia].

Leishmania major, agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis, has been isolated from the rodent Meriones shawi shawi in central Tunisia. As a result, the North saharan arid mediterranean area can be considered as epidemiologically homogeneous.

[Ecology of leishmaniasis in the south of France. 21. Influence of temperature on the development of Leishmania infantum Nicolle, 1908 in Phlebotomus ariasi Tonnoir, 1921. Experimental study].

The influence of temperature on the life-cycle of Leishmania infantum Nicolle, 1908 (isolated from a dog in the Cévennes) in a known vector (Phlebotomus ariasi Tonnoir, 1921) was studied with special reference to the proportion of flies infected and the intensity and localization of parasites in the sandfly. Wild female sandflies were caught at night by active searches and were put with a heavily infected dog in a mosquito net on the night of capture. On the following morning, engorged females were tubed individually and were then maintained at 10, 15, 20, or 25 degrees C (+/- 1.

[Presence of Leishmania major Yakimoff and Schokhor, 1914 in Mali. Enzymatic identification of a strain of human origin].

The first case of oriental sore reported to Leishmania major is identified in Mali. The characterization of the stain isolated from a left arm lesion of a 30 years old european woman is carried out by electrophoretic analysis using enzymes, i.e.

[A new enzymatic variant of Leishmania infantum Nicolle, 1908, agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in northern Algeria].

For the first time, the pathogenic agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the North of Algeria has been identified as Leishmania infantum s.1. The parasite was found to be a newly discovered enzymatic variant (zymodeme 24) differing by two electromorphs from a variant isolated in France (zymodeme 11) from the same type of lesion.

[Ecology of leishmaniasis in Southern France. 18. Enzymatic identification of Leishmania infantum Nicolle, 1908, isolated from Phlebotomus ariasi Tonnoir, 1921, spontaneously infected in the Cévennes].

Out of 187 female Phlebotomus ariasi caught in the Cévennes focus of leishmaniasis 3 were found naturally infected with Leishmania. The infection in one of the three had spread from the midgut to the pharynx and proboscis. Stocks of Leishmania were isolated from two of the flies and 8 isoenzymes were examined.

[Numerical cladistics of the phylogeny of the genus Leishmania Ross, 1903 (Kinetoplastida-Trypanosomatidae). Use of enzyme characteristics].

Numerical cladistics is applied to the phyletic analysis of the genus Leishmania Ross, 1903. 128 Old World stocks are characterized by means of electrophoretic techniques using 13 enzymes. The 68 electromorphs detected allow to group the stocks into 17 zymodemes.