Gerbillid Rodents Fauna (Muridae: Gerbillinae) and detection of reservoir hosts(s) of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis using a Nested-PCR technique in Jask City in Hormozgan Province in 2008

Gerbillid rodents (Rodentia: Muridae: Gerbillinae) are the most important reservoir hosts of Leishmania major which is the causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL). Different gerbil species are reservoirs of ZCL in different parts of Iran. Since Jask City is the most important endemic area in Hormozgan Province and eastern part of Iran, the present study was designed to identify the gerbil's fauna in this city and detect the reservoir hosts of ZCL in Jask City. This was a descriptive study and the rodents were caught in rectangular wire-mesh traps from different areas of the city. The trapped animals were euthanized under chloroform anesthesia. Duplicate impression smears were prepared from the external ears and their morph metric characteristics were measured and recorded. After dissection of the abdomen of the animals by a scalpel liver and spleen of each animal were removed and preserved in a tube containing 70% ethanol and the whole body was incubated in another tube containing 10% formalin and sent to zoology lab for taxidermy and identification of different species. Impression smears were examined for leishman body by means of a light microscope after Giemsa staining. Small parts of spleen and liver of the animals were homogenized and used for DNA extraction. Whole DNA extracted usnig Proteinase K and Phenol/Chloroform/Isoamyl alcohol methods. The variable segment of minicircles of kinetoplast DNA was proliferated by means of nested-PCR technique using species-specific primers (LIN R4-LIN 17 –Lin 19). All the 106 rodents in this study belonged to five species. Meriones persicus was the dominant species (27.35%). Microscopic examination detected the leptomonads in a female specimen of Tatera indica (3.7%), a female specimen of Meriones hurricane (3.85%) and a male specimen of Gerbillus nanus species (5.88%), while leishmania kinetoplast DNA was detected in one femalespecimen of T.indica, 2 female specimens (7/69%) of M.hurrianae, and one female and one male specimen (11/76%) of G.nanus species. The parasites were identified as L. major. Different species of gerbil rodents are active and abundant in the vicinity of human residential areas in Jask City. T. indica, M. hurricane and G. nanus species are reservoir hosts of ZCL in this endemic area. In this study we used molecular assay for detection of ZCL reservoir hosts for the first time in south east part of the country. Infection of G. nanus by L. major was detected for the first time in the world.