Description of six autochthonous cases of canine visceral leishmaniasis diagnosed in Pedregulho (São Paulo, Brazil)

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis is an infectious disease of chronic, emerging and zoonotic nature that presents various degrees of severity. In Brazil, this illness is caused by Leishmania infantum (Leishmania chagasi), which is transmitted by the bite of the sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis, and dogs are its main reservoir. Given the increasing spread of this disease across Brazil, the aim of this study was to report on six cases of canine visceral leishmaniasis, diagnosed in June 2013, in the city of Pedregulho, State of São Paulo, considered to be a non-endemic area and free of phlebotomine sand flies. The diagnosis was based on clinical signs of the patients and additional tests (serological and parasitological). It was concluded that the diagnosis of leishmaniasis is complex because the clinical signs are similar to other systemic diseases, thus justifying the importance of parasitological test of bone marrow, considered "gold standard", in the confirmation of the disease. In addition, the area was not, until now, considered risk place, despite notification.

Canine and Human Leishmaniasis: Disease Progression to Brazilian Urbanized Areas

“…In addition to the domestic dog, different wild canids are important reservoirs of this parasite [35,36]. Abreu, et al reported 6 cases of autochthonous canine leishmaniasis in the city of Pedregulho (São Paulo), an area considered non-endemic and free of sandflies; raising the assumption that there is a transit of the parasite independently of humans and domestic dogs in that region [37].…”

Evaluation of the toxicogenetic potential of visceral leishmaniasis in naturally infected dogs and salivary samples for definitive disease diagnosis

“…The causative parasites, Leishmania infantum, are obligatory intracellular protozoa transmitted to definitive hosts (humans, domestic and wild animals) and reservoirs (dogs, foxes, and opossums) through the bite of vectors (dipteran insects, sandflies -Lutzomyia longipalpis), exclusively by infected females (Costa et al, 2013;Sonoda et al, 2013;Abreu et al, 2015;Almeida et al, 2019). Due to its extent and zoonotic nature, leishmaniasis has drawn attention from public health and the scientific community (Maruyama et al, 2019).…”

Sensibilidade do teste parasitológico em imprints de baço, medula óssea e linfonodo para o diagnóstico da leishmaniose de acordo com o número de avaliadores

“…A pesquisa direta de parasitas em tecidos tem sido considerada como diagnóstico definitivo para leishmaniose (Solano-Gallego et al, 2011;Abreu et al, 2015) sendo a análise de esfregaços de material colhido por meio de punção de baço, medula óssea e linfonodos um método eletivo para se identificar a forma amastigota em microscopia óptica (Troncarelli et al, 2009). Saridomichelakis et al (2005) observaram o linfonodo como o melhor local para visualização do parasita, já Andrade et al (2006) observaram que além do linfonodo o baço também é um bom local para se realizar o imprint, havendo portanto divergência entre autores quanto ao melhor local a ser puncionado para se obter um diagnóstico mais preciso.…”