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MULTIFARIOUS CHARACTERIZATION OF LEISHMANIA TROPICA FROM A JUDEAN DESERT FOCUS, EXPOSING INTRASPECIFIC DIVERSITY AND INCRIMINATING PHLEBOTOMUS SERGENTI AS ITS VECTOR

The predominant sand fly species collected inside houses in Kfar Adumim, an Israeli village in the Judean Desert that is a focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis, was Phlebotomus papatasi, which was also caught attempting to bite humans. Phlebotomus sergenti, which is rarely seen inside houses, constituted the predominant sand fly species in caves near the village. Leishmania isolates from Ph. sergenti and humans typed as Leishmania tropica. Sand fly and human isolates produced similar small nodular cutaneous lesions in hamsters. Isolates produced excreted factor (EF) of subserotypes A₉ or A₉B₂, characteristic of L. tropica and reacted with L. tropica-specific monoclonal antibodies. Isoenzyme analysis consigned the strains to the L. tropica zymodemes MON-137 and MON-275. Molecular genetic analyses confirmed the strains were L. tropica and intraspecific microheterogeneity was observed. Genomic fingerprinting using a mini-satellite probe separated the L. tropica strains into two clusters that were not entirely congruent with geographic distribution. These results support the heterogeneous nature of L. tropica and incriminate Ph. sergenti as its vector in this Judean Desert focus.

Received July 2, 2003. Accepted for publication October 9, 2003.

Financial support: This research was supported by grant SO 220/5-1 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG): "The German-Israeli-Palestinian Cooperative Project on Leishmaniosis in Israel and The West Bank" by grant number 235/99-16.2 from "The Israel Science Foundation" of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and a grant from the Israeli Ministry for the Environment. The Montpellier Centre National de Reference des Leishmania is supported by the French Ministry of Health.

^* These authors contributed equally to this paper.

Authors’ addresses: Lionel F. Schnur, Abdelmageed Nasereddin, Carol L. Eisenberger, Charles L. Jaffe, Gerlind Anders, Tamar Grossman, Raymond L. Jacobson, and Alon Warburg. Department of Parasitology, The Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Hebrew University–Hadassah Medical School, PO Box 12272, Jerusalem 91120, Israel, Telephone: 972-2-675-8081. Fax: 972-2-675-7425, E-mails: schnurl{at}cc.huji.ac.il and warburg{at}cc.huji.ac.il. Mustafa El Fari and Gabrielle Schonian, Institut fur Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Charite Campus Mitte, von Humboldt Universitaet zu Berlin, Dorotheenstrasse, Berlin, Germany, Telephone: 49-30-2093-4741, Fax: 49-30-2093-4703. Kifayia Azmi, Department of Biochemistry, Al-Quds University, Palestinian Authority. Mireille Killick-Kendrick and Robert Killick-Kendrick, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College at Silwood Park, Acsot SL5 7PY, United Kingdom. Jean-Paul Dedet and Francine Pratlong, Laboratoire de Parasitologie and Centre National de Référence des Leish-mania, 163 Rue Auguste Broussonet, 34090 Montpellier, France. Moien Kanaan, Department of Biology, Bethlehem University, Palestinian Authority.

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