The Leishmania species cause a variety of human disease syndromes. Methods for diagnosis and species differentiation are insensitive and many require invasive sampling. Although quantitative PCR (qPCR) methods are reported for leishmania detection, no systematic method to quantify parasites and determine the species in clinical specimens is established. We developed a serial qPCR strategy to id...

Leishmania internalize hemoglobin (Hb) via a specific receptor (HbR) for their survival. To identify the Hb-binding domain of HbR, we cloned and expressed several truncated proteins HbR determined ability to bind Hb. Our findings reveal that 90% activity is retained in HbR41–80 comparison with HbR1–471. We synthesized 40 amino acid peptide (SSEKMKQLTMYMIHEMVEGLEGRPSTVRMLPSFVYTSDPA) correspondin...

BACKGROUND Rapid diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and identification of Leishmania species is highly important for the disease management. In Israel, CL is caused mainly by Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica species. METHODS We established an easy to handle point of care lesion-swabbing, combined with a highly sensitive multiplex real time PCR (multiplex qPCR) for accurate and r...

Total antigen from Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis and isolates from the Leishmania braziliensis complex, along with their respective antigenic fractions obtained by affinity chromatography on concanavalin-A-Sepharose and jacalin-agarose columns evaluated using immunoenzymatic ELISA assay. For this, serum samples from 229 patients were used, grouped as American tegmental leishmaniasis (n=58...

Transcriptome Analysis May Be Beneficial for Identification of Specific Pathways in Host Cell-Leishmania major Interactions(letter to editor)

Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by a malaria-like parasite called Leishmania in human and some species of animals. Detection of leishmaniasis has always been crucial for control and treatment of the disease. Different strategies have been approached for detection of leishmania. In this review methods used for detection of leishmania infection have been discussed and compared. Key word: Leishm...

Development of Leishmania infantum/Leishmania major hybrids was studied in two sand fly species. In Phlebotomus papatasi, which supported development of L. major but not L. infantum, the hybrids produced heavy late-stage infections with high numbers of metacyclic promastigotes. In the permissive vector Lutzomyia longipalpis, all Leishmania strains included in this study developed well. Hybrids ...

BACKGROUND The development of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique for species identification among patients presenting leishmaniasis allowed to better determine the main circulating species in French Guiana. METHODS A descriptive study of the Leishmania species was identified, and their spatiotemporal distribution was conducted using patient...

Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by a malaria-like parasite called Leishmania in human and some species of animals. Detection of leishmaniasis has always been crucial for control and treatment of the disease. Different strategies have been approached for detection of leishmania. In this review methods used for detection of leishmania infection have been discussed and compared.