Gabriele Schonian

..A study on the epidemiology of VL in this area was carried out in 2007-2008 in the villages of Chodak, Oltinkan, Gulistan and Chorkesar located at elevations of 900-1200 above sea level...

..Unrooted distance trees separated the ten strains into two different genetic groups. This subdivision was correlated to the geographical origin of the isolates rather than to the clinical manifestation of the disease...

..There is an urgent need for better cooperation between laboratory scientists and epidemiologists and for regional epidemiological surveillance of these infectious diseases that affect all Mediterranean countries...

..Whether a revised classification system should be introduced for Leishmania is discussed...

..Accessible databases should be created and sustained for integrating data obtained by different researchers. This would allow for global analyses and help to avoid biases in analyses due to small sample sizes...

..113 cases (69.7%) were positive by PCR and species identification was possible in 110 samples. Leishmania DNA was also amplified and identified at the species level from archived non-stained and Giemsa stained microscope slides...

..However, the 4 Namibian strains formed a distinct, statistically well-supported group closely related to but different from the other strains of L. tropica...

..Although all C. albicans populations tested were primarily clonal, evidence for recombination suggests that sexual reproduction or some other form of genetic exchange occurs in this species...

..The latter scenario could be true for population B found in few foci of Central Israel...

..This study showed that the zymodeme MON-37 is paraphyletic and does not reflect the genetic relationship between strains of different geographical origin...

..MLMT is thus applicable for epidemiological and population genetic studies of strains within the subgenus Viannia...

..infantum population structure. It confirmed that the agent of VL in the NW is L. infantum and that the parasite has been recently imported multiple times to the NW from southwest Europe...

..The circulation of a single homogeneous population of L. donovani in Bihar (India), Bangladesh and Nepal is, most probably, related to the epidemic spread of visceral leishmaniasis in this area...

..MON-1 L. infantum is the predominating zymodeme in all endemic regions, both in humans and dogs, the reservoir host. In order to answer important epidemiological questions it is essential to discriminate strains of MON-1...

..Allelic diversity was highest in the Mediterranean region, intermediate in Africa and lowest in India. MLMT provides a powerful tool for global taxonomic, population genetic and epidemiological studies of the L.donovani complex...

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..donovani parasites as a consequence of severe immunosuppression. However, in all three patients, rapid clearance of the skin lesions was observed after antimonial therapy...

..The fact that most of the outbreak strains were found to be related to strains from well-known KA foci in northwest Ethiopia and Sudan might suggest multiple introductions of L. donovani strains from these foci into Libo Kemkem district...

..tropica appears to be predominantly clonal. In Africa and the Middle East, anthroponotic and zoonotic systems of distribution may contribute to the development of overlapping, genetically distinct populations of L. tropica...

..The ITS sequence analysis presented here supports the need for revision of the taxonomy of the L. donovani complex...

..tobbi (10%). The focus of VL in Hebron district was shown to follow the epidemiological pattern of paediatric disease characteristic of the Mediterranean region...

..In addition to length variation, a high degree of allelic heterozygosity was seen among the strains investigated, suggestive of sexual recombination within the species L. tropica...

..Jenin District is an active focus of CL caused by L. tropica, where Phlebotomus sergenti, the putative vector, is abundant. These data suggest that CL is a zoonotic infection, but an animal reservoir has not been found...

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..They are co-dominant because they can detect all possible allele combinations in a diploid organism and may, therefore, be very useful for population genetic analysis in Leishmania...

..The main clusters described are not consistent with species definitions based on isoenzyme analysis but confirm the results of former PCR-based investigations...

..major were genetically closer to the Middle Eastern strains, and a representative one did infect fat sand rats, but they had distinct permissively primed inter-genic polymorphic PCR patterns and internal transcribed spacer 2 types...

..These findings will serve as a baseline for the sandfly vector's anticipated northward move because of global warming and as an advisory for immunocompromised persons traveling to leishmaniasis-endemic areas...