Identification of Leishmania donovani as a cause of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sudan

M. Elamin (1, 2) , I. Guizani (3) , S. Guerbouj (3) , M. Gramiccia (4) , A.M. El Hassan (1) , T. Di Muccio (4) , M.A. Taha (5) , M.M. Mukhtar (1)

1 University of Khartoum
2 Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Al Zaiem Al Azhari University, Khartoum
3 Laboratoire d'Epidémiologie et d'Ecologie parasitaire, Institut Pasteur de Tunis
4 ISS - Istituto Superiore di Sanità
5 Alribat Hospital

Eight patients with cutaneous ulcers were referred to the Institute of Endemic Diseases, Khartoum, Sudan, from June 2000 to March 2002 for the diagnosis of suspected cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Diagnosis was confirmed parasitotogically by both positive Giemsa-stained smears and successful culture of Leishmania promastigotes in NNN medium. The eight parasite isolates were shown to belong to the Leishmania donovani complex by kDNA PCR. Isoenzyme typing of three isolates revealed that they were identical to the L. donovani MON-82 reference strain, and the gp63 PCR-RFLP profile showed similar patterns to a reference strain of MON-82. CL is endemic in most regions of Sudan and has been reported previously as being caused by L. major MON-74. The results of this study suggest that L. donovani is also a cause of CL in Sudan and that further study of isolates from Sudanese patients with cutaneous ulcers is warranted to ascertain whether L. donovani or L. major is the causative agent. (c) 2007 Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sudan; PCR; kDNA; cutaneous leishmaniasis; Leishmania donovani; diagnosis

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Parasitology

M. Elamin, I. Guizani, S. Guerbouj, M. Gramiccia, A.M. El Hassan, et al.. Identification of Leishmania donovani as a cause of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sudan. Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2008, 102 (1), pp.54 - 57. ⟨10.1016/j.trstmh.2007.10.005⟩. ⟨pasteur-01375206⟩