Abstract:
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Mucosal leishmaniasis, which is a sporadic disease in the Sudan, was shown by isoenzyme characterization and PCR to be caused
by Leishmania donovani. However, it was not clear if the parasite was exactly the same strain as that causing visceral leishmaniasis
(VL), or of a different strain. We utilized a new generation of molecular DNA markers, minisatellites and kinetoplast DNA, for rapid
characterization of the parasite. The results show that the genotypes of some of the parasites causing VL are different from those causing
mucosal leishmaniasis. The L. donovani isolates causing visceral disease, as well as post-kala-azar mucosal leishmaniasis (PKML), have
been shown to possess characteristic haplotypes. However, sequencing of a portion of the cytochrome oxidase II (COII) gene indicates that
the parasite that invades the oral mucosa is divergent from other parasites causing VL. It appears to possess features of a more ancestral
parasite with pronounced sequence homology to L. major. This agrees with earlier studies where isolates of mucosal leishmaniasis have
been shown to possess an isoenzyme profile distinct from L. donovani and a different geographical distribution, albeit often overlapping
with that of L. donovani.
© 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |