Detection of species and molecular typing of Leishmania in suspected patients by targeting cytochrome b gene in Zahedan, southeast of Iran

Vet World Vol.11 May-2018 Article-19

Research Article

Veterinary World, 11(5): 700-705

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2018.700-705

Hadi Mirahmadi^1,2, Nasrin Rezaee^1,2, Ahmad Mehravaran^1,2, Peyman Heydarian³, and Saber Raeghi⁴

1. Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
2. Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
3. Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
4. Department of Laboratory Sciences, Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran.

Background and Aim: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is one of the most important health problems that are capable of involving both tropical and subtropical areas, especially in Iran. This cross-sectional study aimed to differentiate the species that are able to cause CL in Zahedan city by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method.

Materials and Methods: It was conducted on 145 suspected CL patients in Zahedan city between 2014 and 2016. The smears were initially prepared, air-dried, fixed with absolute methanol, and stained with 10% Giemsa. Then, we examined the stained samples by a light microscope under 1000× magnifications. PCR assay targeted cytochrome b (cyt b) gene using LCBF1 and LCBR2 primers and the products digested by Ssp1 enzymes.

Results: From 145 suspected CL patients, 76 (52.4%) were positive in microscopic examination. In addition, we detected gene of interest (cyt b) in 98 (67.5%). The results of PCR-RFLP indicated that 53/98 (54%) cases were Leishmania major and 45/98 (46%) were Leishmania tropica, and the main species in these areas was L. major.

Conclusion: We concluded that the microscopic examination is not sensitive enough and is not able to distinguish between different Leishmania species. Instead, molecular methods like PCR-RFLP can be appropriately used with promising results. Keywords: cytochrome b, Leishmania major, Leishmania tropica, polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

Keywords: cytochrome b, Leishmania major, Leishmania tropica, polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

How to cite this article: Mirahmadi H, Rezaee N, Mehravaran A, Heydarian P, Raeghi S (2018) Detection of species and molecular typing of Leishmania in suspected patients by targeting cytochrome b gene in Zahedan, southeast of Iran, Veterinary World, 11(5): 700-705.

Received: 10-11-2017 Accepted: 23-04-2018 Published online: 26-05-2018

Corresponding author: Saber Raeghi E-mail: saberraeghi@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2018.700-705

Copyright: Mirahmadi, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.