A survey of reservoir hosts in two foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Kerman province, southeast of Iran

In the Old World, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is zoonoses and natural vertebrate hosts of CL parasites are mammals. This study was carried out on natural infection rates of Leishmania parasites in reservoir hosts in one new focus of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) and in suspected reservoir in an old focus of ACL in Iran. The sampling of rodents using Sherman traps was carried out and PCR technique was used for detection and identification of Leishmania species in Bahreman district, Kerman province, southeast of Iran. In addition, the smears were taken from suspicious lesions in stray dogs in the city of Kerman, the center of Kerman province. Simultaneously, pieces of lesion (1 × 1×1 cm) were taken for further histopathological examination. Overall, 25 rodents were collected and identified, including Meriones libycus and Rhombomys opimus. Amastigotes were observed in 33 % of the R. opimus by microscopic examination and indentified as Leishmania major by PCR technique. Four suspicious dogs out of 391 stray dogs showed no Leishmania species. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first isolation and identification of L. major from R. opimus in Kerman province, where ZCL has been present in recent years. Therefore, R. opimus is considered as the main animal reservoir host in Bahreman ZCL focus. In ACL focus such as the city of Kerman, dogs had no role in CL infection as reservoir host.