Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Abstract

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is caused by various species of the genus Leishmania. The disease is considered a major health problem in different areas of Saudi Arabia including Al-madinah Al-munawarah province. We aimed to identify Leishmania species isolated from sand fly vectors by molecular analysis. Sand fly sampling was carried out from May 2010-October 2010 in province of Al-madinah Al-munawarah from four different localities. Female sand flies collected were subjected to DNA extraction followed by molecular analysis using the nested PCR and conventional PCR protocols, respectively, against minicircle kDNA and ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1-rDNA). The PCR positive specimens against ITS1-rDNA locus were digested for further confirmation of species identification. A total of 2910 sand flies were collected. P. papatasi accounted for 93.8% (1673 male and 1057 female), however, the number of P. sergenti was only 180 (109 male and 71 female). Sixty-two out of 250 (23.7%) female P. papatasi tested for Leishmania parasite were positive for L. major using the semi-nested PCR method against kDNA. All of the 62 positive specimens produced a band size 650bp. A 31% of female P. sergenti were positive against kDNA of L. tropica and produced a 720bp band. These positive P.sergenti for L. tropica DNA produced ITS1-PCR-RFLP profile showed two bands of~200bp and 57bp which are specific for L. tropica, confirming the presence of L. tropica in P. sergenti. However, the ITS1-PCR-RFLP profile showed two bands of~203bp and 132bp which are specific for L. major in P. papatasi. We concluded that, the semi-nested PCR method against kDNA and the ITS1-PCR-RFLP analysis are useful tools for molecular identification of both L. major and L. tropica. A multicenter study is necessary in order to evaluate the extent of the disease and functional analysis of new Leishmania genes. Acknowledgements: This study was supported by grant funded by the Strategic Science, Advanced Technologies and Innovation Unit (SRU)-Taibah University-Al-madinah Al-munawarah, Saudi Arabia (grant number 08-BIO25-5).

Biography

Professor and Consultant of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Head of Medical Laboratories Technology Department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences Taibah University, Saudi Arabia.