PUTATIVE LEISHMANIA HYBRIDS IN THE EASTERN ANDEAN VALLEY OF HUANUCO, PERU

During an outbreak of tegumentary leishmaniasis that developed in the 1990s in the Eastern Andean valley of Huanuco, Peru, the coexistence o f Andean (uta) and sylvatic leishmaniases was suspected for ecological and geographical reasons, and sympatric sampling was carried out. Sev en human isolates of Leishmania were characterized by multilocus enzym e electrophoresis, random amplification of polymorphic DNA and molecul ar karyotyping. The three methods identified 3 isolates as L. brazilie nsis, and 4 isolates as putative hybrids with characters of L. brazili ensis and L. peruviana. Data from Huanuco are compared to previous res ults from other areas endemic for uta. Biological and epidemiological implications are discussed.