First report of Leishmania tropica from a classical focus of L. major in North-Sinai, Egypt

Abstract

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is prevalent in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and previous research has consistently documented the etiologic agent to be Leishmania major. We report the first isolation of Leishmania tropica from human cases of CL in a Northern Sinai community bordering Palestine. Parasite culturing, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), gene sequencing, and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses indicate CL cases in this community were caused by either L. major or L. tropica (three cases each). Two wild-caught rodents (Gerbillus pyramidum floweri) were infected with L. tropica. Phlebotomus papatasi sand flies were found harboring L. major, however only non-infected individuals of Phlebotomus sergenti, a vector for L. tropica, were caught. Patients with L. tropica had not traveled from the region in over a year, suggesting these cases are autochthonous. This scenario is consistent with an incursion of L. tropica from bordering countries and raises concerns about expansion of this parasite further into Egypt.