LEISHMANIA-TROPICA IN MOROCCO .3. IDENTIFICATION OF 89 ISOLATES FROM THE VECTOR PHLEBOTOMUS-SERGENTI

In a Moroccan focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania tropica, 7 907 female sandflies captured with CDC traps were dissected from summer to autumn 1989. Among species of the genus Phlebotomus, only P. sergenti harbored promastigotes. Eighty-nine strains belonging to the complex L. tropica were isolated. The frequency of vector infection was zero in June, rose to 1.3% in August, and reached 9.9% in October, which indicates that the period of high risk is at the end of the hot season. Out of 89 strains isolated, 74 were completely typed and corresponded to the following four zymodemes: MON-102 (one strain), MON-107 (56 strains), MON-122 (two strains), and MON-123 (15 strains). Only the first two were observed in humans. The distribution of zymodemes MON-102 and MON-107 was very different in humans, dogs, and the vector. In one of the sites surveyed, which was strongly dominated by MON-107, the absence of human cases involving this zymodeme suggests the existence of a wild reservoir.