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Between 1985 and 2000, epidemiological surveys of the American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) were carried out in several rural and urban communities in Espírito Santo, Brazil. A total of 100 stocks of Leishmania (comprising isolates from both human and canine hosts with ATL) were identified by two methods of molecular characterization, using specific monoclonal antibodies and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. Parasite isolates from 19 municipalities were found to belong to the same zymodeme and serodeme type as of the Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis reference strain. In contrast, our genotyping studies have shown intra-specific variation among these parasites (comparisons of the variability of the internal transcribed spacers between the small and large subunits of the rRNA genes of the 22 stocks studiedrevealed at least 11 genotypes). Two main clusters of L. (V.) braziliensis genotypes were observed, representing parasites collected from different endemic regions in the state, where transmission reflects distinct eco-epidemiological features. Infection with this pathogen was associated with the characteristic disease forms, but neither the clinical outcome nor the response to treatment could be related to the genetic polymorphism of the isolates, as defined by using the proposed methodology.

Objective: To compare the spatio-temporal distribution of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) cases with mucosal leishmaniasis (ML) cases in the state of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) between 2001 and 2011., Method: The incidence rates (IR) of CL and ML were calculated for the cases notified between 2001-2011 in the Information System of Notifiable Diseases for Rio de Janeiro (RJ, and for the municipalities of Rio de Janeiro and Angra dos Reis, with georeferencing and construction of thematic maps. A negative binomial regression model was used to assess the temporal dependency between CL and ML., Results: Higher IR of CL and ML were observed up to 2006. The cases of CL and ML increased annually concomitantly in the state of RJ and in Angra dos Reis, even when they were controlled by the CL rates of the previous year. The municipality of Rio de Janeiro presented smaller annual CL IR after the occurrence of high ML IR in the two previous years., Conclusion: The temporal association observed between CL and ML suggests that: either the mucosal lesions were already incipient from the beginning of CL manifestation, or the Leishmania species circulating in RJ is able to produce early mucosal lesions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Paes et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Between 1985 and 2000, epidemiological surveys of the American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) were carried out in several rural and urban communities in Espírito Santo, Brazil. A total of 100 stocks of Leishmania (comprising isolates from both human and canine hosts with ATL) were identified by two methods of molecular characterization, using specific monoclonal antibodies and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. Parasite isolates from 19 municipalities were found to belong to the same zymodeme and serodeme type as of the Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis reference strain. In contrast, our genotyping studies have shown intra-specific variation among these parasites (comparisons of the variability of the internal transcribed spacers between the small and large subunits of the rRNA genes of the 22 stocks studied revealed at least 11 genotypes). Two main clusters of L. (V.) braziliensis genotypes were observed, representing parasites collected from different endemic regions in the state, where transmission reflects distinct eco-epidemiological features. Infection with this pathogen was associated with the characteristic disease forms, but neither the clinical outcome nor the response to treatment could be related to the genetic polymorphism of the isolates, as defined by using the proposed methodology.