Epidemiological and clinical study on the cutaneous leishmaniasis in Aran and Bidgol, center of Iran

Aims: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a skin infection that causes various forms of ulcers and also remains scars even after treatment. This disease is prevalent in many countries of Middle East including Iran. Since determining the species of the parasite is important for prevention and control programs, this study was conducted to identify Leishmania species in Aran and Bidgol, Isfahan province, center of Iran. Materials and
This cross-sectional study was carried out on 112 CL suspected patients who referred to health centers of Aran and Bidgol. Serosity of the wound was collected, and amastigote form was detected by microscopic method. After extraction of DNA from serosity, kDNA-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify Leishmania species.
Fifty-four of all suspected CL samples (48.2%) were positive microscopically, while 55 (49.1%) were positive using kDNA-PCR. The results of PCR revealed that 51 isolates (92.7%) were Leishmania major and 4 (7.3%) Leishmania tropica, respectively. The most lesion form caused by L. major was papular or volcanic-like, while all of wounds caused by L. tropica were papular/nodular forms.
The results of the study indicated that the predominant species was L. major and zoonotic CL is more prevalent in this region