Objective:To examine the fauna of rodents as zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis reservoir hosts in Zarqan County, Fars Province, south of Iran, during 2012.
Methods:During 2012, wild rodents from different parts of this region were caught by Sherman traps and checked by the examination of liver and spleen smears, for Leishmania infection, to see which species were acting as reservoir hosts;the slides were then processed to extract DNA for molecular test using PCR assay.
Results:From 108 rodent species caught, 63%were male and 37%identified as female. Meriones libycus was the most abundant species caught (80.5%) and 5.7%of them were found to be smear-positive for Leishmania amastigotes. The other species were Rattus rattus (14.8%) and Mus musculus (4.7%), but none of them were found positive. Leishmania infection was observed in male and female samples microscopically. Moreover, molecular results revealed Leishmania major in three male and two female specimens.
Conclusions:Based on our knowledge, Meriones libycus is incriminated as the main reservoir hosts of Leishmania major in the rural area of Zarqan.

Objective: To explore the co-detection of natural infection of Trypanosomatidae parasites such as Leishmania and Crithidia in reservoir hosts of leishmaniasis. Methods: Rodent populations were monitored in two endemic foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis of Fars province, southern Iran from March to October 2016. Rodents were trapped alive in several parts of Shiraz and Kharameh cities. Afterwards, their organs were prepared for detection of Leishmania and Crithidia species by molecular, microscopic, and culture methods. Results: Totally, 115 rodents of five species; Tatera indica (T. indica) (85), Rattus rattus (12), Meriones libycus (9), Mus musculus (7), and Rattus norvegicus (2), were trapped alive and their tissue samples were examined using microscopic, cultivation, and molecular assays. Overall, 59 (51.3%) rodents were positive for Leishmania or Crithidia parasites. The highest rate (61.2%; 52/85) of Leishmania infection was related to the T. indica population. The cultivation, and molecular observations showed that two (2.4%; 2/85) of T. indica (foot-pad, and spleen samples) were positive to Crithidia. Conclusions: This is the first report of Crithidia infection in T. indica in Iran. Consequently, more epidemiological and ecological studies are needed to understand the role of Crithidia and Leishmania in T. indica.