Genotyping Leishmania promastigotes isolated from patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis in south-eastern Turkey

ObjectiveCutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a significant disease in south-eastern Anatolia because it is prevalent among Syrian refugees. We identified the causative Leishmania species in CL patients using molecular methods.MethodsNovy–MacNeal–Nicolle medium was inoculated with aspirated fluid from suspected CL lesions and tested for amastigotes with Giemsa staining. PCR amplified the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) of the Leishmania genome in cultures containing Leishmania promastigotes from 100 patients, which were genotyped with a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. A phylogenetic tree was constructed from ITS1 sequences of 95 culture fluid samples from these patients.ResultsLeishmania amastigotes were detected in 92% of cultures with growth. Leishmania promastigotes were typed as Leishmania tropica with both PCR–RFLP and sequencing.ConclusionsIdentification of L. tropica as the causative agent of CL in our region allows the clinical course to be predicted, and guides treatment...