ABSTRACT
[Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis] is a parasitic infection, which is caused by protozoa of genus [Leishmania] and usually has a reservoir of family [Jerbilineae]. There are reports of infection from different areas of Iran annually. Damghan, a township of Semnan province of Iran, is one of the endemic foci of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis and it had an epidemy of this infection in 1999. Because existing Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in reservoirs can affect the probablity of human infection and can influcnce the [Preventive and Control Programms], a descriptive study was design to determine the [Cutaneous Leishmaniasis] in rodents of the rural areas of Damghan, Iran between years 2001-2002. This research was a descriptive study, done in 12 chosen villages of Damghan township. Installing hunting net randomly in different places of study area trapped the rodents. After anaesthetizing and writing all the external characteristics, impression smears were prepared from ears and the other suspicious parts of the rodents' bodies. These smears were stained with Giemsa's stain and examined microscopically for the presence of Leishman bodies. The Observation data was recorded in special charts and analyzed statistically. In this study the total number of 310 rodents belonging to 4 Species were hunted in which 250 of them had [Cutaneous Leishmaniasis]. [80.6%]. There was no signifcant difference between the rate of infected rodents in [areas having human disease reports] and [areas without it]. The major genus and species of the trapped rodents was [Nesokia indicant] which also showed the maximum rate of infection [83%].The maximum rate of infected rodents was observed in spring season [83.9%] and Western areas [86%]; and the minimum rate was in summer [73.2%] and Southern areas of the study [68%].The results indicated that prevalence rate of [Cutaneous Leishmaniasis] was extremely high in the rodents of the rural areas of Damghan township. High number of these rodents and their proximity to the houses and work places of people, may lead to exist [Cutaneous Leishmaniasis] for the following years even in [human epidemy form] and so there is a special need for designing [Comprehensive Control Programs]