title: Population genetics of Leishmania infantum in Israel and the Palestinian  Authority through microsatellite analysis.
abstract: Multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT) was used to investigate the genetic variation among 44 Israeli and Palestinian strains of L. infantum isolated from infected dogs and human cases to determine their population structure and to compare them with strains isolated from different European countries. Most of the Israeli and Palestinian strains had their own individual MLMT profiles; a few shared the same profile. A Bayesian model-based approach and phylogenetic reconstructions based on genetic distances inferred two main populations that were significantly different from the European strains: population A, containing 16 strains from places in the West Bank and 11 strains from central Israel;and population B, containing 7 strains from northern Israel, 9 from central Israel, and one Palestinian strain from the Jenin District.Geographically distributed sub-populations were detected within population B. These results demonstrate similar disease dynamics in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The re-emergence of VL in the case of population A is more likely owing to increased dog and human contact with sylvatic cycles of parasitic infection rather than to recent introduction from the older foci of northern Israel. The latter scenario could be true for population B found in few foci of Central Israel.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amro
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schönian
authors.forename: Mohamed Barakat
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Al-Sharabati
authors.forename: Kifaya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Azmi
authors.forename: Abedelmajeed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nasereddin
authors.forename: Ziad
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Abdeen
authors.forename: Lionel F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Schnur
authors.forename: Gad
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baneth
authors.forename: Charles L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Jaffe
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kuhls
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018912:Arabs; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004285:Dogs; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D018314:Leishmania infantum / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic