First isolation of Leishmania from Northern Thailand: case report, identification as Leishmania martiniquensis and phylogenetic position within the Leishmania enriettii complex.

• Published in: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Thatawan Pothirat, Adisak Tantiworawit, Romanee Chaiwarith, Narissara Jariyapan, Anchalee Wannasan, Padet Siriyasatien, Khuanchai Supparatpinyo, Michelle D Bates, Godwin Kwakye-Nuako, Paul A Bates
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003339; https://doaj.org/article/9a896ebb68954442b4ca4bad82d60da6

Since 1996, there have been several case reports of autochthonous visceral leishmaniasis in Thailand. Here we report a case in a 52-year-old Thai male from northern Thailand, who presented with subacute fever, huge splenomegaly and pancytopenia. Bone marrow aspiration revealed numerous amastigotes within macrophages. Isolation of Leishmania LSCM1 into culture and DNA sequence analysis (ribosomal RNA ITS-1 and large subunit of RNA polymerase II) revealed the parasites to be members of the Leishmania enriettii complex, and apparently identical to L. martiniquensis previously reported from the Caribbean island of Martinique. This is the first report of visceral leishmaniasis caused by L. martiniquensis from the region. Moreover, the majority of parasites previously identified as "L. siamensis" also appear to be L. martiniquensis.