The effect of human blood groups on growth of the agent of Leishmaniasis

History and Objectives: Due to the prevalence and importance of diagnosis and treatment of Leishmaniasis in Iran and considering the difficulties and the economical burden of providing culture media from rabbit’s blood, this study was carried out to investigate the effects of human’s blood on growth of Leishmania and compare these with the rabbit’s blood culture media in Kashan in 1374. Materials and Methods: An experimental study was performed on promastigote of L.major, L.tropica and L.infantum, approved by World Health Organization, on rabbit’s blood culture media and the 8 human’s blood culture media that 4 of these were repeated. The adaptability time to the medium, the maximal and minimal growth were calculated and statistically analyzed on the basis of the decrease in the number of active parasites from the time of culturing. Results: The adaptability time was one to two days and was equal in both types of culture media, parasites on the human’s blood media achieved maximal growth in a shorter time than their counterparts on rabbit’s blood media and the minimum number of growth was higher on rabbit’s blood culture media. Number of parasites grow on rabbit’s blood were higher than human’s blood in all three types of parasites (P Conclusion: Due to the importance of growth velocity of the parasite, rabbit’s blood can be replaced by human blood groups. Performing research on human specimens is recommended.