Caracterização molecular e espacial de cães naturalmente infectados por Leishmania spp no municíupio de Exu, Pernambuco, Brasil

Abstract

Leishmaniasis are anthropozoonosis caused by obligate intracellular parasites belonging to the genus Leishmania and subgenus Leishmania, Viania and Mundinia that affect around 350 million people around the world. The state of Pernambuco is historically endemic for the two main clinical presentations of the disease: Visceral Leishmaniasis (LV) and Tegumentary Leishmaniasis (LT). The domestic dog is still considered the main urban host for Leishmania infantum and significant in the transmission of Leishmania brasiliensis, species that cause LV and LT, respectively. The municipality of Exu, located in the southeastern state of Pernambuco, recorded in its urban and rural areas a total of 27 cases of LV and LT in humans in the last 5 years (2013-2018). Using 260 dogs (255 urban and 5 rural), 27.84% (71/255) dogs were reactive in the serum immunochromatographic test DPP® LVC (BioManguinhos), while 40 % (2/5) of the dogs collected in the rural area were reagent in the immunochromatography. After serological screening, all 71 samples were submitted to molecular diagnosis of Leishmania spp, L. (L.) infantum and L. (V.) brasiliensis by conventional PCR. Through the georeferencing of these data, it was possible to conclude that LVC in the urban area of the city of Exu is closely related to the cases of VL in humans and represent a surveillance character for the places where the disease in humans is not yet present in the urban zone.