Didelphis marsupialis, an apparent wild reservoir of Leishmania donovani chagasi in Colombia, South America

Ecological interactions of visceral leishmaniasis in the state of Bahia, Brazil

“…chagasi in the American Continent (Sherlock et al 1984(Sherlock et al , 1988a. Soon after, several infected D. marsupialis were diagnosed with the same leishmania in endemic focus of Colombia (Corredor et al 1989). …”

Visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil: revisiting paradigms of epidemiology and control

“…In Italy, the common domestic rat Rattus rattus is strongly suspected as a secondary reservoir of L. infantum 48 and there is a record of L. chagasi infection in this same rodent in Venezuela 52 . Records of natural infection were also verified in the spiny rat Proechimys canicollis in Colombia 13 . Using a PCR technique, we have recently detected the presence of L. infantum DNA fragment in an exemplar of water rat Nectomys squamipes and in an opossum D. albiventris, both trapped in an Atlantic rain forest area of Pernambuco State (unpublished data).…”

“…The opossum Didelphis albiventris was found naturally infected by L. infantum in Brazil 44,45 , as well as D. marsupialis in Colombia 13,47 and Venezuela 52 . In Barra de Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro State, the distance of the house from the forest border, its altitude and the presence of D. marsupialis in the backyard were found to be predictor factors for L. infantum infection in dogs 11 .…”

Ecology of the Leishmania Species in the Guianan Ecoregion Complex

“…However, a study in the Brazilian Amazon showed that crab-eating fox populations did maintain the transmission cycle independently of domestic dogs and that they were also unlikely to introduce the parasite into Leishmania-free dogs populations. 127,128 Some opossums commonly found in the GEC were naturally infected with L. (L.) infantum: Didelphis marsupialis in Columbia [129][130][131] and D. albiventris in Bahia, although foxes and rodents were not infected. 132,133 In Colombia, it was also suggested that the rodent Proechimys canicollis may be a reservoir host of this parasite, 107 but no infection was observed in Proechimys guyanensis after inoculation with a strain from Amazonian Brazil, 134 The status of these marsupial and rodent species as important reservoir hosts for L. (L.) infantum in some specific areas remains unclear.…”