Importance of Cats in Zoonotic Leishmaniasis in Portugal

Abstract

Leishmaniasis, caused by Leishmania infantum, is an endemic zoonosis in the Mediterranean basin. Dogs are considered the major host for these parasites, as well as the main reservoir for human visceral infection. In recent years, asymptomatic infection or clinical disease caused by L. infantum in cats has been reported in several countries where zoonotic leishmaniasis is present. The aim of the present study was to perform a leishmaniasis survey in cats from an endemic focus. Twenty-three adult stray cats were surveyed by clinical examination, and peripheral blood samples for serological and molecular analysis were collected. In 7 of the 23 cats (30.4%) Leishmania DNA was detected in blood. A low level of fluorescent antibodies was detected in four serum samples. All the animals were asymptomatic. Taking into account the high rate of asymptomatic feline leishmaniasis in this survey, it can be suggested that cats may act as a habitual reservoir host of L. infantum infection in endemic areas. Furthermore, it will be important in the future to add this parasitosis to the differential diagnosis of feline infections from leishmaniasis foci in cats. Feline leishmaniasis diagnosis should be accessed by molecular tools.

Gastrointestinal Parasites in Domestic Cats

“…Percentages superior to those obtained in our study were found in Portugal by Maia et al (2008), who observed 30.4% (7/23) felines carrying leishmaniasis. In Greece, Diakou et al (2009) verified that 3.87% (11/284) cats had anti-Leishmania antibodies.…”

“…The occurrence of leishmaniasis in domestic cats has been reported in a large number of countries (Mancianti, 2004;Maia et al, 2008;Silva et al, 2008). In our study, only the species Leishmania (L.) chagasi was found in the analyzed cats (Coelho et al, 2011c), which could be associated or not with other diseases (Coelho et al 2010).…”

The first case report of Leishmania (leishmania) chagasi in Panthera leo in Brazil

“…In European countries, the seroprevalence of domestic cats to visceral leishmaniasis in endemic areas varies from 0.9% [6] to 4.29% in Italy [7] , 30.4% in Portugal [8] , 60% in Spain [9] and 6.7% in Jerusalem [10][11][12] . In the southwestern region of Brazil, the seroprevalence for visceral leishmaniasis in this Contents lists available at ScienceDirect was about 25% in domestic cats [13] .…”

Occurrence of Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi in a domestic cat (Felis catus) in Andradina, São Paulo, Brazil: case report

“…In other countries, epidemiological surveys using IFA and PCR revealed a ratio of 30.4% (7/23) in Portugal (MAIA et al, 2008), and 6.7% (7/104) in Israel using ELISA (NASEREDDIN et al, 2008).…”

“…The occurrence of visceral leishmaniasis in cats has been described in several countries (MANCIANTI, 2004;MARTÍN-SÁNCHEZ et al, 2007;MAIA et al, 2008;NASEREDDIN et al, 2008), including Brazil (SAVANI et al, 2004SILVA et al, 2008). Skin lesions have also been reported in cats with leishmaniasis (PENNISI et al, 2004).…”