THE VARIABILITY OF THE ETIOLOGIC AGENT OF LEISHMANIASIS IN THE NORTHEAST OF THE ALMERIA REGION, SOUTH-EAST SPAIN

This study presents the results of characterising 17 strains of Leishmania by isoenzyme electrophoresis from a focus in north-east Almeria, south-east Spain. Nine of these were isolated from Phlebotomus pernicious and eight were of canine visceral origin. All the latter were identified as the Leishmania infantum zymodeme GR-1. The homogeneity of these strains greatly contrasts with the heterogeneity observed with those of sandfly origin for which eight zymodemes are described (GR-2, GR-6, GR-X, GR-10, GR-11, GR-12, GR-13 and GR-14).