Leishmania spp. identification by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and its applications in French Guiana

Leishmania (Viannia) guyanensis was for many years the only species commonly identified in French Guiana, but precise species identifications were quite rare. We describe a new restriction fragment length polymorphism–polymerase chain reaction technique using a 615-bp fragment of the RNA polymerase II gene and 2 restriction enzymes, TspRI and HgaI. Seven reference strains (Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis, Leishmania (Viannia) lainsoni, Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis, L. (V.) guyanensis, Leishmania (Viannia) naiffi, Leishmania (Leishmania) major, Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum) and 112 clinical samples from positive lesions were used for the development of the technique. The rates of positive species identification were 85.7% for punch skin biopsy specimens, 93.1% for positive Giemsa-stained smears, and 100% for positive culture supernatants. In the framework of cutaneous leishmaniasis species surveillance for the 2006 to 2008 period, parasite identification was carried out for 199 samples from different patients. The prevalence of the various Leishmania spp. was 84.4% for L. (V.) guyanensis, 8.0% for L. (V.) braziliensis, 5.0% for L. (L.) amazonensis, and 2.6% for L. (V.) lainsoni. L. (V.) braziliensis seems to be locally an emerging pathogen.