Novel detection of RNA virus-1 (LRV-1) in clinical isolates of .

American tegumentary leishmaniasis comprises a discrete set of clinical presentations endemic to Latin America. RNA virus-1 (LRV-1) is a double-stranded RNA virus identified in 20–25% of the and , however not in . This is the first report of LRV-1 in and its associations with clinical phenotypes of ATL. Unique surplus discard clinical isolates of were identified from the Public Health Ontario Laboratory (PHOL) and the Clinic of the Instituto de Medicina Tropical ‘Alexander von Humboldt’ between 2012 and 2019 and screened for LRV-1 by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Patient isolates were stratified according to clinical phenotype. Of 30 patients with , 14 (47%) and 16 (53%) patients had severe and non-severe ATL, respectively. Five (36%) of 14 severe cases and 2 (12%) of 16 non-severe cases were positive for LRV-1, respectively. No differences in sex were observed for clinical phenotype and LRV-1 status. Although an association between LRV-1 status and clinical phenotype was not demonstrated, this is the first description of the novel detection of LRV-1 in , a species that has been documented predominantly in Central America.