Molecular Detection of Leishmania infantum in Atypical Cutaneous Lesions from Paraguayan Patients

Leishmaniasis is one of the most important vector-borne human diseases. Different parasite species are associated with the various forms of the disease. In Paraguay, visceral leishmaniasis is caused by L. infantum, whereas tegumentary leishmaniasis is due mainly to L. braziliensis. Recently, two cases of patients with atypical cutaneous lesions have been described in which the causative agent was determined to be L. infantum. Based on these findings, we aimed to determine the leishmania species of all cutaneous and mucosal biopsy lesions submitted to our research center during 2016 using real-time PCR. We found that 20% of all tegumentary leishmaniasis were due to L. infantum and most of these patients presented with atypical cutaneous lesions and no visceral involvement.