Isolation of Leishmania infantum from Animal Reservoir (dog) of Boyer Ahmad Township by Nested PCR

The visceral leishmaniosis is a common disease between human and animal caused by Leishmania infantum. The main resource of this disease is canidae family. This study was conducted to determine the genus and species of the parasites that cause visceral leishmaniosis in Boyer Ahmad City.

In this study, the smears were prepared from spleen and liver extracts of 15 dogs in Boyerahmad city that were suspected to visceral leishmaniosis according to clinical signs (2010). Also some of the samples were evaluated by Nested-PCR to determine the geneus and species of the parasite.

According to the smear observation and Nested-PCR results, 14 cases (93.3%) and one case (6.7%) of the samples have been detected as Leishmania infantum and Leishmania major, respectively.

The molecular results showed that the main etiological agent of visceral leishmaniosis in the animal reservoir (dogs) of BoyerAhmad Township is Leishmania infantum. However, Leishmania major also was detected as one of the causes of visceral leishmaniosisin in the region.