Investigation on the presence of Leishmania natural infection and antibodies among rodents in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Leishmaniases whether cutaneous and/or visceral are one of the public health problems in nearly all countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The prevalence and the incidence are increasing. Control of the animal reservoir hosts in zoonotic forms is one of the best means of measures against leishmaniasis. This paper aimed to screen rodents for their role as reservoir for leishmaniasis. Natural Leishmania infection was detected in one Meriones crassus out of 3 which had cutaneous lesions. The lesion present on Gerbillus cheesmani was negative for amastigotes. Anti-leishmanial antibodies as detected by indirect haemagglutination tests (I.H.A.T.) showed reaction among the seven species of the trapped rodents. However, by interpretation of the diagnostic value of I.H.A. only three M. crassus (3/512) and one Gerbillus cheesmani (1/256) gave seropositive reactions. The whole results were discussed.