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Leishmaniavirus (also known as Leishmania RNA virus or LRV) is a double-stranded RNA virus of the Totiviridae family that is present within several species of the human protozoan parasite Leishmania.

History
The presence of virus-like particles in L. hertigi were already reported in 1974, however the first molecular description of Leishmania RNA virus (LRV-1) came only in the subsequent decade for various members of the South American L. (Viannia) subgenus: first in L. guyanensis (L.g)     then later in L. braziliensis (L.b).

Prevalence and Taxonomy
The prevalence of LRV1 in human parasites is still largely unknown. So far, no LRV1 has been detected in other key L. (Viannia) species, such as L. panamensis (L.p). Further, LRV1 is rarely found in species outside the Neotropics, and so far, all Paleotropic LRV isolates have shown genetic differences that were sufficient to classify them in a new subcategory named “LRV2”. This variant of LRV was first classified in a single isolate of L. major (L.m), and is recorded as the only and exceptional member of L.m to carry it. Recently, LRV2 has also been found in strains of L. aethiopica (L.ae) isolated from biopsies of cutaneous leishmaniasis patients in the Ethiopian highlands. While slight genetic differences were recorded between the LRV2 strains of L.m and L.ae, phylogenetic studies show that the genetic distances between LRVs mirror those between their parasite hosts and thus, that similarity is clustered according to the geographical habitat of the parasite.