In Honor of Dr. Mehdi Assmar, a Distinguished Researcher at the Pasteur Institute of Iran

Dr. Mehdi Assmar is a prominent researcher in Iran, with a specialization in parasitology and medical entomology, who has done a large amount of research related to the public health in Pasteur Institute of Iran and other institutions or universities for four decades. Most of his research has been on plague, recurrent fever, malaria, toxoplasmosis and leishmaniasis. Discovering the cause of resistance to plague infection among the rodents of the Kurdistan region is one of his important achievements. During his research, he found the extent of plague in the studied areas, the frequency of wild rodents and their external and internal parasites, the susceptibility of different strains of plague strains to antibiotics, and the effectiveness of systemic toxins in controlling the rodent fleas.This paper provides an overview of his scientific activities

Predominance of Leishmania major and rare occurrence of Leishmania tropica with haplotype variability at the center of Iran

ABSTRACT Background Leishmania major is a causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in the center of Iran, Abarkouh district. Molecular characterization and precise incrimination of Leishmania species was carried out to perform controlling measurements and to design treatment programs for zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. Methods All smears isolated from ulcers of suspected patients were examined under a light microscope and graded for amastigotes frequency. Extraction of DNA, PCR, RFLP and sequencing of ITS-rDNA genotype were done to increase the efficacy of Leishmania parasites identification at their species-specific level and to detect any Leishmania infections within. Results Humans were found to be infected with L. major with high infection frequency and also Leishmania tropica was identified with low occurrence for the first time as non-native species using molecular analyses. The rates of infections was considerable with microscopic observation (n= 65, 73%) out of 89 smears prepared from suspected patients. Molecular analyses showed that the density of L. major was significantly higher (n= 48, 53.93%) than L. tropica (n= 4, 4.49%) (Mann-Whitney U test: p< 0.05) and two samples (2.25%) remained ambiguous after several sequencing. L. major did not have diversity with two common haplotypes but L. tropica were found to exhibit high diversity with three novel haplotypes. Conclusion L. major was considered the causative agent of leishmaniasis in the region, but the identification of a non-native L. tropica revealed the importance of further isolation of Leishmania parasites following molecular analyses and confirmation, and also revealed the importance of further isolation of Leishmania parasites from patients of the field areas who do not have easily access to health care centers for specialized treatment strategies