a study of genetic polymorphism of crithidia in isfahan, iran

Background: genotyping of crithidia species is critical in order to design appropriate programs for control and prevention of cutaneous leishmaniasis (cl). objectives: the purpose of this project was study and investigation genetic polymorphism of crithidia in isfahan city. patients and methods: in this descriptive-analytical study, 602 samples were isolated from suspicious patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis who referred to leishmaniasis research center or other health centers in the vicinity of isfahan. after culturing of the samples in nnn (novy macneal nicole, ©merck) medium, dna extraction was performed. molecular detection and identification was done using pcr-rflp technique. results: results showed that 50 samples (8.31%) were negative. out of 201 samples (33.39%) were crithidia spp which 27 cases (13.44%) were crithidia fasciculata, 11 cases (5.47%) were crithidia luciliae and the rest (163 cases or 81.9%) were similar to trypanosomatidae which submitted at gen bank with accession number of gq331988. blast showed that the last ones have 92% and 89% similarity to c. fasciculata and c. luciliae, respectively. out of 351 patients (58.31%) identified as leishmania spp. conclusions: the results of the present study suggested that there is some recombinant species in isfahan and surrounding area that could be an important agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis.