Visceral leishmaniasis in Tunisia: result of the isoenzymatic characterization of 65 Leishmania infantum strains.
The isoenzymatic characterization of 65 Tunisian strains of Leishmania, isolated from human cases of visceral leishmaniasis between June 1998 and August 2001, revealed the existence of 3 zymodemes of the L. infantum complex: MON-1 the most common (93.8%), followed by MON-24 (3.1%) and MON-80 (3.1%). 72% of the strains were obtained from children under the age of 5 years. The majority of the studied strains originated from 8 provinces of northern Tunisia, particularly the province of Zaghouan.
Belhadj
S
S
Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Hôpital La Rabta, 1007 Tunis, Tunisia.
Pratlong
F
F
Toumi
N H
NH
Kallel
K
K
Mahjoub
H
H
Babba
H
H
Azaiez
R
R
Dedet
J P
JP
Chaker
E
E
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D015994:Incidence; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000032:analysis; D018314:Leishmania infantum / Q000145:classification* / Q000201:enzymology; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D014416:Tunisia / Q000453:epidemiology
D007527:Isoenzymes; D015800:Protozoan Proteins