First Autochthonous Case of Emerged Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Mazandaran Province, Northern Iran: kDNA-PCR Evidence Base
: In the last decade, several cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) have been recorded by the provincial health center of Mazandaran Province, northern Iran. However, there is no documented report of autochthonous CL in the province yet. The patient, a 59-year-old female, known case of diabetes mellitus, lived in rural area of Kiasar district (in eastern part of the Mazandaran) with 5 skin lesions suspected of having vasculitis, without history of traveling to the endemic areas of CL, was admitted to Imam Khomeini teaching hospital, Sari. To rule out CL, fine needle aspiration (FNA) procedure was used aseptically for the patient. Laboratory investigations showed Leishman bodies (amastigotes) by direct smear preparation and species identification confirmed Leishmania major (L. major) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) molecular method. Accordingly, this is the first documented report of autochthonous CL in Mazandaran Province. Overall, due to the abundance of probable rodent reservoir hosts and confirmation of infection of sandflies (Phlebotomus papatasi) with L. major in the Kiasar district, where our patient was living there, it seems that CL emerged in the eastern part of the province. Therefore, further studies on rodents and sandflies fauna in terms of emerging leishmanial infection in the area is recommended.