Original research

Leishmania species and zymodemes isolated from endemic areas of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Jordan

Laila Nimri¹, Radwan Soubani² and Marina Gramiccia³

¹  Department of Applied Biology, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P. O. Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan

²  Ministry of Health, Central Laboratories, Amman, Jordan

³  Laboratorio di Parassitologia, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy

Kinetoplastid Biology and Disease 2002, 1:7doi:10.1186/1475-9292-1-7

Published:	20 November 2002

Abstract

Background

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in the Middle Eastern countries. New cases are emerging in areas previously free of the disease. In Jordan, the diagnosis of cases during the 1960s and 1970s was mainly reported in military hospitals in Amman. Endemicity of the disease was ascertained after reporting a total of 524 cases during 1973–1978.

Results

Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica were isolated from seventy-six autochthonous and imported cases of CL, during eight-year period. The highest infection rates recorded were in the central part of Jordan (60.5%), in males (72.4%) and in the age group 21–30 years (30.5%). Lesions were on the exposed sites of the body, mainly on the face (40%). Both Leishmania spp. were isolated from all parts of the country, although L. major was the predominant species (75% of cases) in all areas except in the north part of Jordan. Isoenzyme characterization of the isolates identified four previously undescribed zymodemes (Z). Four Leishmania major zymodemes were found, one of which was a new zymodeme (ZMON-103 variant in GLUD₂₂₀); L. major ZMON-103 was the most common zymodeme. Four Leishmania tropica zymodemes were identified, of which three were previously unreported. Of these, ZMON-54 var PGD_96–97 was isolated from autochthonous cases, whereas ZMON-59 var MDH₁₀₀ and ZMON-75 var FH₁₁₀ were obtained from both autochthonous and imported cases, or from an imported CL case, respectively.

Conclusion

The findings of this study indicate the emergence of the CL disease in new areas. New foci are reported, where the sporadic nature of the cases indicates recent spread of the disease to these areas and the urge for the implementation of control measures.