Abstract
Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) caused by Leishmania (L.) major parasites represents a major health problem with a large spectrum of clinical manifestations. Psammomys (P.) obesus and Meriones (M.) shawi represent the most important host reservoirs of these parasites in Tunisia. We already reported that infection prevalence is different between these two rodent species. We aimed in this work to evaluate the importance of genetic diversity in L. major parasites isolated from different proven and suspected reservoirs for ZCL. Using the multilocus microsatellites typing (MLMT), we analyzed the genetic diversity among strains isolated from (i) P. obesus (n = 31), (ii) M. shawi (n = 8) and (iii) Mustela nivalis (n = 1), captured in Sidi Bouzid, an endemic region for ZCL located in the Center of Tunisia. Studied strains present a new homogeneous genotype profile so far as all tested markers and showed no polymorphism regardless of the parasite host-reservoir origin. This lack of genetic diversity among these L. major isolates is the first genetic information on strains isolated from Leishmania reservoirs hosts in Tunisia. This result indicates that rodent hosts are unlikely to exert a selective pressure on parasites and stresses on the similarity of geographic and ecological features in this study area. Overall, these results increase our knowledge among rodent reservoir hosts and L. major parasites interaction.
Highlights
Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) represents an important health problem in Tunisia, with a large spectrum of clinical manifestations [1]
All these isolates showed the same amplified fragment size whether they were obtained from P. obesus, M. shawi or M. nivalis species indicating a homogeneous genotype for all isolated strains
At K = 3, Middle East strains were clustered independently from African ones and at K = 4, African isolates were classified into two independent clusters i.e., where the Tunisian isolates cluster independently from the other African strains (Figure 3). All these results corroborate those obtained by genetic distance. This is the first study in North Africa investigating by multilocus microsatellites typing (MLMT) the genetic diversity among L. major strains isolated from rodent reservoir hosts, captured in a single endemic area of ZCL in Central Tunisia
Summary
Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) represents an important health problem in Tunisia, with a large spectrum of clinical manifestations [1]. Rodent species represent the most important reservoir hosts of this disease [2]. Previous studies using different diagnostic tools showed that Leishmania infection prevalence was variable among these rodents [3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Leishmania parasites might establish in different rodent reservoir hosts with a selective way. In Tunisia, Psammomys (P.) obesus and Meriones (M.) shawi were proven to be the most important rodent reservoir hosts of these parasites [2,10,11,12], with a wide range of infection prevalence [2,11,13,14,15,16]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
