Typing of Leishmania Species Responsible of Cutaneous Lesions in the Syrian Coast

Abstract

In this research, we studied the cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis that went to the Department of Dermatology at Tishreen University Hospital in Lattakia and the Specialized Centers for Leishmania and Parasitic Diseases in Lattakia and Tartous Governorates from the beginning of April 2018 until the end of April 2020.

Where leishmaniasis spreads in eighty-eight countries of the world, including the Syrian Arab Republic, and this disease caused by a single-cell parasite of the genus Leishmania, and about twenty-two human pathogen belongs to this genus. Three clinical forms of this disease are known: cutaneous leishmaniasis, mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, and visceral leishmaniasis. A set of diagnostic methods and identification of the parasite type have been developed with the aim of administering the appropriate treatment and guiding ways to prevent infection, including isoanzyme analysis, immunological serological methods and DNA hybridization techniques. The technique of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which depends on either genomic DNA or kinetoplast DNA, is one of the most important molecular methods currently adopted in diagnosing this disease and knowing the type of parasite causing the most accurate. In this work, we isolated DNA from samples taken from individuals with cutaneous leishmaniasis and fixed on glass slides for direct microscopy. The kinetoplasty DNA was used to determine the parasite type using PCR technique. And by the presence of specific projects that inflate fragments of different lengths characteristic of the parasite type. It was found that all the studied samples were L. tropica.