African Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 4 (11), pp. 1038-1043, 4 June, 2010 Available online http://www.academicjournals.org/ajmr ISSN 1996-0808 © 2010 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Comparison of culture media in the isolation and diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis Ahmet Özbilgin 1 *, Fadile Zeyrek 2 , M. Emin Limoncu 3 , pek Östan 3 , Tuba Tabak 1 , Kamil Aar 1 , Hayriye Türkmen 4 and Ali A. Kilimciolu 1 1 Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey. 2 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Harran University, Sanliurfa, Turkey. 3 Celal Bayar University Vocational School of Health Services, Manisa, Turkey 4 Department of Dermatology, Sanliurfa State Hospital, Sanliurfa, Turkey. Accepted 29 April, 2010 Leishmaniasis is a common and significant parasitic disease among the Middle East and Mediterranean countries. Cutaneous and visceral forms of leishmaniasis are seen in Turkey. Direct microscopic examination of Giemsa-stained smears and inoculation into a culture medium are gold standards in diagnosis. In the present study, three diffferent culture media (pepton-yeast extract, brain heart and nutrient broth) were used in comparison with Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle and RPMI 1640 as control media to assess the effectiveness of new culture media both in diagnosis in patients and after isolation from the mice. In addition, smears prepared from the infectious material were stained with Giemsa and examined under a light microscope. Samples obtained from the lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis produced on the sole of mice were inoculated into all culture media; growth were detected in pepton-yeast extract and nutrient broth media. Smears prepared from the lesions of these mice were stained with Giemsa and amastigotes were detected on them. Growth was also seen in control media. Five of 12 cultivations of the human samples suspected of having cutaneous leishmaniasis revealed growth in pepton-yeast extract medium and nutrient broth medium. Microscopic examination of these five patients showed the presence of amastigotes and growth in control media, while none was observed in the remaining seven cases. These results indicated that pepton-yeast extract and nutrient broth media could be preferred in both isolation of the parasites and diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Key words: Leishmaniasis, culture medium, diagnosis, isolation. INTRODUCTION Leishmaniasis is reported as one of six major tropical diseases by the World Health Organization and the world's 20 million people are infected each year with 400 thousand additional phenomenon. Leishmania species which is undistinguished morphologically, creates four *Corresponding author. E-mail: a.ozbilgin@yahoo.com. Tel: +90 532 7768617. Fax: +90 236 2331466. Abbreviations: BH, Brain heart; CL, cutaneous leishmaniasis; DCL, diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis; FCS, fetal calf serum; FNAB, fine needle aspiration biopsy; MCL, mucocutaneous leishmaniasis; NB, nutrient broth; PY, pepton-yeast extract; VL, visceral leishmaniasis. different clinical pictures as visceral leishmaniasis (VL), cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL) and diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL). CL caused by Leishmania tropica is reported in Southeastern Anatolia and Eastern Mediterranean region of our country, Turkey (Ozbel et al., 1995). In cutaneous leishmaniasis, initial lesion is generally a small red papule up to 2 cm in diameter. Over several weeks, papules become darker and turn to ulcers with raised edges and central crater. Ulcers can be moist and exude pus or dry with a crusted scab, sores usually appear on exposed areas of the skin, especially on the face and extremities (Markle and Makhoul, 2004). Lifelong scars caused by CL create problems in terms of aesthetics and CL makes the person immune to the infection and is been healed