Isolation and characterization of Leishmania parasites imported into Switzerland--a retrospective study

Cases of leishmaniasis imported into Switzerland were diagnosed by culture and/or Giemsa-stained smears. The cultures proved to be positive in 61 of 64 confirmed cases, whereas only 49% of Giemsa-stained smears were positive. Promastigotes were detected on average after 3.6 +/- 2.2 days. A total of 33 different isolates were characterized by isoenzyme analysis and typed as Leishmania infantum (10 cases, mainly from Europe), L. chagasi (1 case, Central America), L. major (12 cases, mainly from Africa), L. braziliensis (7 cases, South and Central America), and L. tropica (1 case, Near East). Two isolates could not be clearly classified. Correlations between species and origin or between species and type of biopsy were as expected.