Pourmohammadi B, Motazedian M H, Kalantari M
Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 2008 Mar;102(2):127-33. doi: 10.1179/136485908X252223.
The incidence of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL), which is endemic in several parts of Iran, has recently increased in the rural areas of the northern district of Damghan, in Semnan province. Between 2001 and 2004, as part of an investigation of this worrying trend, wild rodents in this region were caught and checked, by the microscopical examination of liver and spleen smears, for leishmanial infection, to see which species were acting as 'reservoir' hosts. Overall 298 Nesokia indica, 29 Meriones libycus, 10 Mus musculus and two Microtus socialis were caught. Most of the N. indica (61%) and Me. libycus (52%) but none of the other rodents were found smear-positive for leishmanial amastigotes. When PCR was used to test scrapings from 50 of the smears (of which 25 had been found to harbour amastigotes, by microscopy), 29 (58%) of the smears were found positive for the kinetoplast DNA of Leishmania major; none was found positive for any other Leishmania species. Nesokia indica and Me. libycus are therefore incriminated as the main 'reservoir' hosts of L. major in Damghan.
人兽共患皮肤利什曼病（ZCL）在伊朗的几个地区呈地方性流行，最近在塞姆南省达姆甘北区的农村地区发病率有所上升。在2001年至2004年期间，作为对这一令人担忧趋势调查的一部分，该地区的野生啮齿动物被捕获，并通过对肝脏和脾脏涂片进行显微镜检查，以检测利什曼原虫感染情况，从而确定哪些物种是“储存宿主”。总共捕获了298只印度地鼠、29只利比亚沙鼠、10只小家鼠和2只社会田鼠。大多数印度地鼠（61%）和利比亚沙鼠（52%）的利什曼原虫无鞭毛体涂片呈阳性，而其他啮齿动物均未发现阳性。当使用聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测50份涂片的刮片时（其中25份通过显微镜检查发现含有无鞭毛体），29份（58%）涂片被发现利什曼原虫主要种的动基体DNA呈阳性；未发现其他利什曼原虫物种呈阳性。因此，印度地鼠和利比亚沙鼠被认定为达姆甘利什曼原虫主要种的主要“储存宿主”。
