Epidemiology of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis due to Leishmania tropica through molecular approach in a residential area, Central Iran

This study aimed to determine vector, reservoir and causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in the city of Qom, central Iran. Sand flies were collected using sticky traps. Patients with active lesion/s were sampled in health centers. Desert gerbils were caught using Sherman traps. PCR and PCR-HRM were conducted and compared to detect leishmania infection in the samples collected from human, reservoirs and sand flies. Totally 2519 adult sand flies including Phlebotomus papatasi, Phlebotomus sergenti, Phlebotomus alexandri, Phlebotomus caucasicus in Phlebotomus genus, and Sergentomyia sintoni and Sergentomyia theodori in Sergentomyia genus were collected and identified. Out of 60 prepared slides 66% found positive through conventional PCR, though all of them found positive by qPCR. On the other hand, qPCR had a lower sensitivity to detect leishmania infection inside sand flies’ digestive track, as 25% and 16% of the samples were positive using conventional and qPCR, respectively. 18 Meriones libycus, 12 Nesokia indica, 28 Rattus norvegicus, and 11 Mus musculus were identified, and no leishmnia infection were detected in their prepared samples through microscopic nor molecular examination. Anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is the second only prevalent CL to the zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) in some district of Qom city and its suburbs. Moreover, the study proved that, PCR-HRM could be an accurate fast and alternative for conventional PCR to detect most prevalent leishmania species.