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Volume 30, Number 3—March 2024
Research Letter

Source Tracing of Leishmania donovani in Emerging Foci of Visceral Leishmaniasis, Western Nepal

Pieter Monsieurs, Kristien Cloots, Surendra Uranw, Megha Raj Banjara, Prakash Ghimire, Sakib Burza, Epco Hasker, Jean-Claude Dujardin, and Malgorzata Anna DomagalskaComments to Author 
Author affiliations: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium (P. Monsieurs, K. Cloots, E. Hasker, J.-C. Dujardin, M.A. Domagalska); BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal (S. Uranw); Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal (M.R. Banjara, P. Ghimire); London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK (S. Burza)

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Figure

Phylogenetic analyses of Leishmania donovani from the ISC, including Nepal, and reference sequences. Trees were based on genomewide single-nucleotide polymorphisms using RAxML (8). A) Unrooted phylogenetic network of the L. donovani complex, showing samples representing the emerging foci (bold text). B) Rooted phylogenetic tree of reference strains of L. donovani from the ISC, showing the branching of 3 samples (022, 023, and 024) originating from emerging foci. Important bootstrap values are indicated on the branches. The West-African LV9 strain is included as an outgroup. BPK72_SuSL represents an ISC1 sample analyzed using SureSelect sequencing (Agilent Technologies; https://www.agilent.com), confirming that the branching of the emerging foci is not a result of a technical artifact. Scale bars indicate number of single-nucleotide polymorphism differences. ISC, Indian subcontinent.

Figure. Phylogenetic analyses of Leishmania donovani from the ISC, including Nepal, and reference sequences. Trees were based on genomewide single-nucleotide polymorphisms using RAxML (8). A) Unrooted phylogenetic network of the L. donovani complex, showing samples representing the emerging foci (bold text). B) Rooted phylogenetic tree of reference strains of L. donovani from the ISC, showing the branching of 3 samples (022, 023, and 024) originating from emerging foci. Important bootstrap values are indicated on the branches. The West-African LV9 strain is included as an outgroup. BPK72_SuSL represents an ISC1 sample analyzed using SureSelect sequencing (Agilent Technologies; https://www.agilent.com), confirming that the branching of the emerging foci is not a result of a technical artifact. Scale bars indicate number of single-nucleotide polymorphism differences. ISC, Indian subcontinent.

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References
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