Short report: quantification of leishmaniavirus RNA in clinical samples and its possible role in pathogenesis

Leishmaniavirus (LRV) is a double-stranded RNA virus that infects the protozoa Leishmania and has been identified in numerous strains of Leishmania braziliensis and L. braziliensis guyanensis. In general, the species of Leishmania dictates disease manifestation except in the case of L. braziliensis, which is capable of causing either cutaneous or mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. We wanted to determine 1) the quantity of LRV RNA present in a clinical sample and 2) if infection with LRV was associated with a specific disease manifestation. A real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay was used to assay clinical samples for the presence of LRV. Of 47 samples tested, 12 positive samples were obtained from patients with cutaneous lesions, lesions in the process of scarring, and cutaneous scars. This is the first study to examine the prevalence of LRV RNA within a small cohort from Brazil.