Sanliurfa, a city in southeastern Turkey, is host to 477,166 Syrian refugees. The incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) may be on the rise in areas affected by a refugee crisis, like Sanliurfa; thus, consequently, local uncommon species of Leishmania may be encountered in these regions. This might potentially make diagnosis and treatment more challenging over time. In this study, it was aimed to identify the causative agents of CL in clinical samples. A total of 154 patients (60 Syrian and 94 Turkish) who were diagnosed with CL via microscopical examination and PCR were enrolled this study. All of the samples were analyzed using internal transcribed spacer 1 genes, restriction fragment length polymorphism, DNA-sequencing, and phylogenetic analyses. In this study, Leishmania tropica was determined to be the predominant species in 140 of the patients (90.9%), followed by Leishmania major in 12 patients (7.8%), and Leishmania infantum in 2 patients (1.3%). Of the 94 Turkish patients, 94.7% were infected with L. tropica and 5.3% were infected with L. major, while none were infected with L. infantum. However, of the 60 Syrian patients, 85% were infected with L. tropica, 11.7% were infected with L. major, and 3.3% were infected with L. infantum. There was a significant association between the Leishmania species and the nations (Turkish–Syrian) (P < 0.001). The sequences were numbered from MH347941 to MH347953 and submitted to GenBank. This study confirmed that L. tropica, L. major, and L. infantum coexisted in Sanliurfa. This was the first time that the species L. infantum was reported among recent immigrants from Syria in Sanliurfa. Therefore, it is necessary to discriminate the Leishmania species for diagnosis, treatment, and controlled studies in hyper-endemic regions.

土耳其东南部城市桑尼乌法收容了 477,166 名叙利亚难民。在受难民危机影响的地区，如桑尼乌法，皮肤利什曼病 (CL) 的发病率可能正在上升；因此，在这些地区可能会遇到当地罕见的利什曼原虫。随着时间的推移，这可能会使诊断和治疗更具挑战性。在本研究中，旨在确定临床样本中 CL 的病原体。本研究共招募了 154 名通过显微镜检查和 PCR 诊断为 CL 的患者（60 名叙利亚人和 94 名土耳其人）。使用内部转录间隔区 1 基因、限制性片段长度多态性、DNA 测序和系统发育分析对所有样品进行了分析。在本研究中，热带利什曼原虫被确定为 140 名患者 (90.9%) 的主要物种，其次是12 名患者 (7.8%) 的主要利什曼原虫和 2 名患者 (1.3%) 的婴儿利什曼原虫。在 94 名土耳其患者中，94.7% 感染了热带乳杆菌，5.3% 感染了大乳杆菌，而没有人感染了婴儿乳杆菌。然而，在60名叙利亚患者中，85%感染了热带乳杆菌，11.7%感染了大乳杆菌，3.3%感染了婴儿乳杆菌。利什曼原虫物种与民族（土耳其-叙利亚）之间存在显着关联（P < 0.001)。序列编号为MH347941至MH347953并提交至GenBank。本研究证实，桑尼乌法有热带L. tropica、L . Major和L. infantum共存。这是第一次在桑尼乌法的叙利亚新移民中发现婴儿乳杆菌。因此，有必要在高流行地区区分利什曼原虫种类以进行诊断、治疗和对照研究。