LEISHMANIA-CHAGASI - GENOTYPICALLY SIMILAR PARASITES FROM HONDURAS CAUSE BOTH VISCERAL AND CUTANEOUS LEISHMANIASIS IN HUMANS

In the Mediterranean region Leishmania infantum causes both visceral a nd cutaneous leishmaniasis. These two pathologies tend to be caused by distinct parasite zymodemes. We have studied 33 isolates of Leishmani a, 2 from sandflies, 5 from visceral cases, and 26 from cutaneous case s in Honduras, to determine if there is a correlation between patholog y and parasite type in the New World similar to that in the Mediterran ean region. Nine of the 26 cutaneous cases were caused by L. mexicana parasites, which have not been previously reported from Honduras; the remaining 17 cutaneous cases were due to L. chagasi. Only minor differ ences were found between the Honduran L. chagasi parasites by random a mplified polymorphic DNA, differential display, pulsed-field gel elect rophoresis, and schizodemes. This suggests that in Honduras the parasi te type may not be the only factor determining the clinical outcome of L. chagasi infections. (C) 1997 Academic Press.