Leishmania braziliensis cells are difficult to culture in vitro and usually require media supplemented with serum for sustained cell division. Fresh, sterile urine is an inexpensive substitute for serum in the culture of 2 strains of L. braziliensis, 1 infected with Leishmania RNA virus 1, and 1 uninfected. In the presence of urine, both the infected and the uninfected strains grew to the same final cell density as the same strains grown in the presence of serum. One strain of Leishmania major was also successfully cultured in urine-supplemented media.

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Viruses of Leishmania have recently been identified and characterized. These viruses are consistently double-stranded RNA viruses of approximately 5 kb. To date, they have not been reported to exist outside their protozoan host, nor have they been shown to be infectious. We report here the ability to transiently transfer these viruses to two strains of Leishmania, one previously infected and one that did not previously carry a virus. A PCR-based assay was used to detect viral negative-stranded RNA. Input RNA was ruled out as the source of template because a replication-incompetent (UV inactivated) virus was not detectable after transfer into Leishmania.

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