[The isoenzyme identification and pathogenic characteristics of the Leishmania isolated in natural foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the USSR].

By 8-11 enzymes, using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, 378 isolates from R. opimus, 3 isolates from M. libycus, 4 isolates from P. andrejevi, 1 isolate from P. papatasi, 1 isolate from S. murgabiensis and 25 isolates from human patients with skin leishmaniasis have been identified. Using starch gel electrophoresis, 17 strains from R. opimus and 3 strains from patients have been additionally identified by 12 enzymes. All the isolates were tested for ability to cause leishmaniasis disturbances in golden hamsters intracutaneously injected into the ear. It is established that L. major is a polytypic group which on the territory of the USSR consists of 3 independent species: L. major (in a narrower sense), L. gerbilli and L. sp. nov, a new earlier unknown species. All three types of Leishmania are specific parasites of R. opimus and only L. major may affect man and M. libycus. 3 types of Leishmania may coexist in the body of one animal. In R. opimus and golden hamsters, all of them caused only skin damages, visceralization was never registered. In golden hamsters, L. major always caused progressing ulcers, while L. sp. nov. and L. gerbilli caused only infiltrative damages. Only 9 (3%) of 268 L. sp. nov. isolates caused ulcers developing similar to those caused by L. major in the experimental animals. The data obtained account for the local nature and seasonal regularities of the epidemic process in the natural foci of skin leishmaniasis by the changing proportion of L. major in the complex of Leishmania encountered in R. opimus.