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ABSTRACT: Introduction & Objective: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is a parasitic disease caused by Leishmania parasites. Clinical manifestation of this disease ranges from a small papule to disseminated cutaneous lesion or chronic tuberculoid ulcer and is based on the type and virulence of parasite and also immune responses of the host. This study aimed to determine the virulence of Leishmania parasite isolated from cutaneous leishmaniasis patients. Materials & Methods: Isolated parasites from CL patients were cultured. Macrophage cell line (J774) cultured in RPMI medium was used in this study to find out the virulence of isolated parasite. Cell line was infected by metacyclic form of parasite where parasite was added to the macrophage culture on a ratio of 10/1. Three days later, cell lines were checked for any infection and the rate of macrophage infectivity and mean of parasite number in each macrophage were calculated. Results: Results of this study showed that virulence of isolated parasite was different where the rate of macrophage infection was 10-63%. Results also revealed that there was a correlation between the rate of macrophage infection and type of ulcers, where more invasive isolates induced ulcerative sores. No correlation was found between the rate of macrophage infection and place of resident of CL patients. Conclusion: Isolated parasites from CL patients had different virulence and this might be the reason for various clinical signs in CL. Molecular and biochemical characterization of the most virulent isolates can be useful for vaccine development and also for drug related studies.

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Introduction & Objective: The subcutaneous mycoses are infections involving the dermis, subcutaneous tissues and adjacent bones. These infections are usually acquired as a result of the traumatic implantation of organisms that grow as saprobes in the soil and plants. These infections develope most frequently among the rural populations of the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of subcutaneous mycoses and their causative agents in Fars province. Materials & Methods: Samples were taken from the patients suspected of subcutaneous mycoses with sever, chronic, suppurative and non healing lesions who referred to dermatology clinic of shiraz. Samples were cultivated on Sabouraud dextrose agar, Mycosel agar, BHI agar and blood agar supplemented with Chloramphenicole 200 mg/L, Penicillin 200000 IU/L and Streptomycin 0.3 gr/L. The cultures incubated at 25 and 37°C for at least six weeks. Fungal species were identified by traditional methods and chromagar candida media. Results: During three years, 93 patients suspected of subcutaneous mycoses were enrolled and no cases of deep mycoses were identified. Other fungal infections such as spergillosis (one case), candidiasis (one case) and nocardiasis (2 cases) were detected. The etiological agents of phaeohyphomycosis and hyalohyphomycosis were isolated by culture in five cases but their infections were not confirmed by direct or histopathological method. Conclusion: Fars province belongs to the tropical areas of Iran and the occupations of most of the people gardening, agriculture and animal breeding, which make them prone to subcutaneous mycoses. Scarecity of these diseases is the major cause of hidden cases.

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Introduction & Objective: Visceral leishmaniosis (VL) is endemic in some parts of Iran. Mediterranean type of disease is present in Iran where its causative agent is Leishmania infantum and dogs are the main reservoirs. Since many cases of the disease were reported from Noor-abad, in Fars provine, we aimed to carry out an epidemiological survey on VL in human and animal reservoirs (dogs) in Mahoor-Milaty district of Noor-Abad city at WestNorth of Fars province. Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive survey, blood samples were randomly collected from all children 10 years old, 10% of the adult population and 20% of the dogs kept by owners in Mahoor-Milaty villages drawn by systematic sampling. The specimens were subjected to direct agglutination test (DAT) on serum and PCR on whole blood. The data were analyzed by standard statistical tests using SPSS software. Results: Of the 321 human samples, 234 samples belonged to children 10 years old and 87 samples were from adults. 182 (56.7%) out of 321 samples were prepared from males and 139 (43.3%) from females. Totally, 6 cases (1.86%) of human samples showed specific Leishmania antibodies with titers 1:3200 or higher by DAT. Of the 19 dog samples, 5 cases (26.3%) showed specific Leishmania antibodies with titers 1:160 or higher. Likewise, kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) of Leishmania infantum was identified in 6 cases (31.5%) of all dogs by PCR with specific primers on whole blood. None of these cases had seropositive titer. Conclusion: Results of this study show that dogs are the main sources of infection for human visceral leishmaniasis in this region and VL is endemic in Mahoor-Milaty district where the incidence rate of human VL cases has recently been increased. Besides it seems that PCR method is a good tool for primary screening of dogs' blood samples with overt or cryptic VL infection