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Evolutionary implications of Leishmania amastigotes in circulating blood cells of lizards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

S. R. Telford Jr
S. R. Telford Jr
Affiliation:
The Florida State Museum, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
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Summary

Amastigotes of 2 Leishmania species are reported from the Pakistani lizards Teratoscincus scincus (Gekkonidae) and Agama agilis (Agamidae) collected in western Baluchistan and north-central Sind, respectively. Parasites were seen only in blood cells, primarily within thrombocytes, and were detected on smears of peripheral blood. Slides made at 3-day intervals for 38 days from an infected hatchling T. scincus demonstrated an increase with time in the mean number of amastigotes/infected thrombocyte. No evidence of an infection focus in fixed cells of the viscera was found. It is suggested, in view of reports of amastigotes in circulating blood cells of hosts belonging to 5 genera, collected in 5 countries from India to France, that saurian Leishmania may behave simply as parasites of circulating blood cells, thus illustrating an early stage in the adaptation of leishmanias to the vertebrate host.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 79 , Issue 3 , December 1979 , pp. 317 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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