Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis infection in wild small mammals in ecotourism area of Brazil

Abstract

Leishmaniases are parasitic diseases transmitted to mammalian hosts by sand fly vectors (Diptera: Psychodidae). Despite the increasing occurrence of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis cases in urban centers, their transmission still occur primarily in wild environments and may be associated with professional activities and recreation, such as ecotourism. The Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Santuário do Caraça (RPPNSC) is one of the largest ecotourism attractions in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and comprises an area of environmental preservation with 11,233 hectares presenting a transitional vegetation between Cerrado and Atlantic Forest. The present study describes the abundance of small mammals in RPPNSC, the isolation and identification of Leishmania in five wild animals. Small mammals were bimonthly trapped along 6 trails within the RPPNSC with 10 Tomahawk traps each. Two trails were located in peridomiciliary areas near tourist lodging facilities, and four trails were located at sites visited by tourists in forest areas. The most prevalent species were Akodon cursor, Cerradomys subflavus and Oligoryzomys nigripes. Six isolates of Leishmania were obtained from these animals and identified as Leishmania braziliensis through HSP70-PCR RFLP method. Leishmania spp. DNA was detected by kDNA-PCR method and isolated by biphasic culture. Studies point to some of the captured species as potential wild reservoirs of Leishmania, suggesting they may be involved in the transmission cycle in these wild environments.

Clinical and epidemiological profiles of patients with American cutaneous leishmaniasis from the states of Pernambuco and Amazonas, Brazil

“…According to the World Health Organization (WHO), leishmaniasis is one of the seven most important tropical diseases in the world 1 . Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a zoonosis caused by different species of protozoa belonging to the genus Leishmania (Order: Kinetoplastida, Family: Trypanosomatidae) 2 , which are intracellular parasites of the mononuclear phagocytic system and are transmitted to humans and wild or domestic animals through the bite of infected sand flies of the genus Phlebotomus (Old World) or Lutzomyia (New World) 1 , 3 , 4 .…”

First detection of Leishmania of the subgenus viannia in Alipiopsitta xanthops, endemic bird of South America

“…To certify the viability of the DNA obtained from this sample, we performed PCR targeting the IRBP gene, which is still little used as an internal control in studies in the area of parasitic infectious diseases (Ferreira et al 2010;Gonçalves et al 2015;Tonelli et al, 2017). This gene is used mainly in phylogenetic studies to determine the relationship between mammalian species (Jansa, and Weksler, 2004).…”

A Systematic Review (1990–2021) of Wild Animals Infected with Zoonotic Leishmania

“…Endemic leishmaniasis were present in several locations, such as the states of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais in Brazil, especially where primary forest was substituted for human settlements [13]. Places such as coffee, banana or sugar cane plantations, ecotourism areas, or even chicken ruins and stables were known as breeding sites for the vector, and wild animals also became infected there [29][30][31]. Most of the studies were carried out in Brazil, especially in these endemic areas, whereas for other countries, such as Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela or Argentina, infections were reported occasionally (Supplementary Materials File S1).…”

“…Direct diagnosis of the parasite, such as examination of biopsies or imprints from skin or other organs, and culture in specific media were tested in rodents, marsupials and sloths in the past [24]. In fact, they are still being used in some studies today, although less frequently [30,31,33,34]. Serology has been extensively employed in domestic animals, but also in wildlife, as a sensitive and indirect evidence of Leishmania infection [30,35,36], and is the preferred method when studying the presence of Leishmania in wild carnivores [37] (Supplementary Materials File S1).…”

“…Rodents are the group most widely explored regarding Leishmania infections, both in natural and experimental conditions. The presence of L. braziliensis and other zoonotic species of the subgenus Viannia has been reported in 27 species including Rattus rattus, Cerradomys subflavus, Necromys lasiurus, Nectomys squamipes and Mus musculus, the latter being the species more often investigated [21,[29][30][31][33][34][35][36][37]39,47,49,50,53,55,[57][58][59][60][61][62][63] (Supplementary Materials File S1). This may be due to the fact of several reasons: their probable role as relevant reservoirs of leishmaniasis for humans, their proximity and high prevalence values (rats and domestic mouse), their abundance in ecological niches where phlebotomines reproduce, or to the successful attempts when xenodiagnosis or strain isolation were employed.…”