Abstract
Background:
Canine leishmaniasis is an infectious protozoan disease transmitted by Phlebotomine sandfly bites. The parasite infects the macrophages of vertebrate as the amastigote stage.

Aim:
The study aimed to detect the causative species for infections between dogs with Leishmania in Iraq and detect the relationship between isolates that infects Iraqi’s animals and other animals in the world.

Methods:
Fifty dogs of various breeds and ages were studied, ranging from 1 month to 7 years old of both sexes. Then, blood samples were collected throughout the cephalic vein into an EDTA tube; DNA was extracted using a commercial kit. Afterwards, conventional PCR was performed using the universal primers to detect for the 18S gene in Leishmania.

Results:
Indicated that most of the dogs infections were caused by Leishmania infantum. The age of infected dogs ranged between a few months and more than a year. Our results indicate that most infections with Leishmianiasis were between older males more than younger females. Most of dogs were asymptomatic, and a small percentage exhibited clinical signs; skin lesions, rough coat, loss of hair, and onycogryphosis. To confirm the results and generate an insight to the origin of the positive L. infantum isolates, ten samples were sequenced. Interestingly, L. infantum isolates were typical to those recorded in Brazil, France, and USA, except for one isolate, was slightly different to the detected isolates. Therefore, our results showed that most infections were between older males rather than younger females, and the DNA sequencing results indicated that only 1 isolate out of 10 showed different demographic origins.

Conclusion:
Dogs might infected mainly with L. infantum without any clinical signs; it cause major health problem for dogs and human and children particularly.

Key words: Leishmania, Canine, PCR, Phylogenetic analysis, Al-Qadisiyiah