molecular identification of leishmania in rodents and their hard ticks in golestan province, northern iran

Background: leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease transmitted between humans and animals and is caused by the leishmania parasite. this parasite is transmitted through the bite of the female sandfly. rodents and canids serve as reservoir hosts, while humans act as incidental hosts for this parasitic disease. given the crucial role of rodents as reservoirs for zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in the endemic regions of golestan province, we aimed to investigate the presence of leishmania in rodents and their hard ticks in the agh qala and inche broun areas of golestan province.methods: this study is a descriptive cross-sectional study. it involved the analysis of 28 liver and 28 skin samples from 28 rodents and their isolated hard ticks for the presence of leishmania parasites using the its1-pcr method.results: in this study, 6 species were identified among the 28 rodents captured in the agh qala and inche broun areas of golestan province, with the dominant species being rhombomys opimus, accounting for 75% of the rodents. through pcr analysis, 13 rodents (46.4%) and 15 hard ticks (10.7%) were positive for leishmania major parasites. interestingly, it was observed that 69% of the rodents infected with leishmania parasites were female. most rodents infected with leishmania were found to inhabit the inche broun area. the majority of ticks belonged to the genera rhipicephalus spp., ornithonyssus bacoti, and ixodes ricinus.conclusion: given the positivity of leishmania parasites in some ticks isolated from infected animals, it is important to consider the potential epidemiological role of hard ticks in the transmission of rodent leishmaniasis.