the pcr-rflp-based detection and identification of the leishmania species causing human cutaneous leishmaniasis in the khorasan-razavi province, northeast of iran

Background: leishmania tropica, the causative agent of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (acl), and leish-mania major, which causes zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (zcl), are endemic in iran. methods: cross-sectional study was designed to identify leishmania species in cutaneous leishmaniasis patients who referred to mashhad health centers from 2013 to 2014 using its-pcr-rflp technique. first, physical exami-nations were performed in all suspected patients and cl cases were confirmed with microscopical examinations. a questionnaire was prepared and completed for each confirmed patient and dna from each lesion smear was extract-ed, separately. the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer was amplified with appropriate primers and pcr products were digested by enzyme taq1 restrict enzyme. results: from all patients, 51 cases (54.3%) were men and 43 of them (45.7%) were women. the most frequent age group was 20–29 years old (27.2%). hands, face and feet were the most common sites for appearance of skin lesions. all of the 94 cases (100%) tested found to be positive by its-pcr-rflp. overall, leishmania species were identi-fied in all of the 94 lesion smears which 33 (35%) of them were l. major and 61 (65%) of the remained isolates were identified l. tropica. conclusion: characterization of leishmania isolates collected from different parts of khorasan-razavi province showed that l. tropica is predominant agents of cl, especially in large and medium sized cities such as mashhad and shandiz. moreover, this study revealed that its-pcr-rflp based on our designed primers is a suitable method for species characterization.