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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2006, p. 459-467, Vol. 44, No. 2
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JCM.44.2.459-467.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Laboratoire Hospitalo-universitaire de Parasitologie et Mycologie Médicale, Equipe EA 3593, UFR de Médecine de l'Université des Antilles et de la Guyane, Cayenne, Guyane Française,1 Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Centre National de Référence des Leishmania, UMR 5093 CNRS and Université de Montpellier 1, Montpellier, France,2 Service de Dermatologie, Centre Hospitalier Andrée Rosemon, Cayenne, Guyane Française3
Received 17 September 2005/ Returned for modification 22 November 2005/ Accepted 1 December 2005
At least 13 characterized Leishmania species are known to infect humans in South America. Five of these parasites are transmitted in the sylvatic ecotopes of the whole French Guianan territory and responsible for cutaneous leishmaniasis. For the diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses have shown promising results. Thus, the end of the small subunit and internal transcribed spacer 1 of the rRNA genes were sequenced and targeted by PCR-RFLP analysis in the 10 main New World (NW) Leishmania species from the two subgenera. Then, the procedure was tested on 40 samples from patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis, and its results were compared with those of conventional methods. (i) The results of this simple genus-specific method were in agreement with those of previous isoenzyme analyses. (ii) This method distinguished the most medically relevant Leishmania species with only one enzyme (RsaI). (iii) This method could be performed directly on human biopsy specimens (sensitivity of 85.7%). Performing NW Leishmania species typing rapidly and easily in the field constitutes a very valuable improvement for detection of Leishmania spp. Revealing great diversity with several enzymes, this method could also be useful for taxonomic, ecological, and epidemiological studies in space and time.
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