title: A preliminary study aimed at the detection of Leishmania parasites in subjects with cutaneous leishmaniasis using polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: As a basic study for future diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis, we tried to detect Leishmania parasites representing different species in the subgenera Leishmania and Viannia from subject patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the subgenus Viannia specific primer. Four out of the 14 specimens revealed an amplified DNA of 70 bp specific for the subgenus Viannia (L. braziliensis complex). No bands were detected in the rest of the specimens belonging to the subgenus Leishmania and unclassified groups. The base sequences of the amplified DNA corresponded with those of the L. (V). braziliensis kinetoplast minicircle. We concluded that PCR using the present primer specific for the subgenus Viannia would be useful in detecting Leishmania parasites in lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by the L. braziliensis complex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uezato
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hagiwara
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hosokawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maruno
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nonaka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oshiro
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hashiguchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007892:Leishmania braziliensis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000469:parasitology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity