SUMMARYIn Brazil, domestic dogs are branded as the primary reservoir for zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis, due to the clear positive correlation observed between human and canine infection rates. This study aimed to carry out a serological survey of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) in dogs housed at a public kennel in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, using the immunochromatographic TR DPP Âź CVL rapid test. Additionally, conventional and/or real time PCR assay was used to detect and confirm L. infantum infection in the DPP positive dogs only. Of the 400 dogs studied, most did not present clinical signs for CVL (p < 0.05), and fifteen (3.8%) were seropositive in the DPP test. There was no statistically significant difference between the DPP seropositive dogs and the clinical signs of the disease (p > 0.05). Both conventional and real time PCR tests confirmed L. infantum infection in nine (75.0%) of the twelve DPP seropositive dogs that remained alive during the follow-up period. This study is the first seroepidemiologic survey of CVL held in the city of Juiz de Fora, and the results reinforce the idea that this disease is currently in a process of expansion and urbanization in Brazil. Furthermore, this study highlights the use of the DPP test as an alternative for diagnosing CVL in large and mid-sized cities, due to its ease of implementation.
KEYWORDS:Canine visceral leishmaniasis; Serological diagnosis; Immunochromatographic diagnosis; DPP; PCR diagnosis.
INTRODUCTIONVisceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a potentially fatal protozoan vectorborne disease caused by the Leishmania donovani complex, and represents a serious risk to public health. This disease is endemic in 88 countries with approximately 0.2 to 0.4 million cases each year in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia (ALVAR et al., 2012). Anthroponotic transmission caused by L. donovani is present in the Indian subcontinent and in Central Africa, and zoonotic transmission caused by L. infantum is present in the Americas, Mediterranean basin, Middle East and Central Asia, and parts of Africa (HARHAY et al., 2011, PALATNIK-DE-SOUSA & DAY, 2011.Among the countries of the Americas, Brazil accounts for the highest number of human VL cases and is the third largest VL focus globally (ALVAR et al., 2012;BELO et al., 2013). Despite having presented a typical rural and wild pattern of VL until the 80's (WERNECK, 2008), current data show that the numbers have increased considerably, thus creating a new epidemiological profile, due to the spread of the disease to urban centers of the North, South and West regions of the country (JERONIMO et al., 2004;ROMERO & BOELAERT, 2010;HARHAY et al., 2011). In Brazil, domestic dogs are the main reservoir, and thus play an important role in the epidemiology of the disease, while foxes and other wild animals play a role in sylvatic transmission (DEANE, 1956;QUINNELL et al., 1997;ROMERO & BOELAERT, 2010). There is a clear positive correlation between human and canine infection rates, so that diagnosing dog...