Abstract
This was a cross-sectional study which analyzed the prevalence and the clinical and immunological spectrum of canine Leishmania (L.) infantum chagasi infection in a cohort of 320 mongrel dogs living in an endemic area of American visceral leishmaniasis in the Amazonian Brazil by using, mainly, the indirect fluorescence antibody test (IFAT-IgG) and the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH), and the parasite research by the popliteal lymph node aspiration. The IFAT and DTH reactivity recognized three different immune response profiles: (1) IFAT(+)/DTH(−) (107 dogs), (2) IFAT(−)/DTH(+) (18 dogs), and (3) IFAT(+)/DTH(+) (13 dogs), providing an overall prevalence of infection of 43 % (138/320). Thus, the specific prevalence of IFAT(+)/DTH(−) 33.4 % (107/320) was higher than those of IFAT(−)/DTH(+) 5.6 % (18/320) and IFAT(+)/DTH(+) 4.0 % (13/320). Moreover, the frequency of these profiles among 138 infected dogs showed that the IFAT(+)/DTH(−) rate of 77.5 % (107/138) was also higher than those of 13.0 % (18/138) of IFAT(−)/DTH(+) and 9.5 % (13/138) of IFAT(+)/DTH(+) rates. The frequency of asymptomatic dogs (76 %—105) was higher than those of symptomatic (16.6 %—23) and oligosymptomatic ones (7.4 %—10). A total of 16 (11.6 %) L. (L.) i. chagasi isolates were obtained from infected dogs, all from the IFAT(+) /DTH(−) profile: 41 % (9/22) from symptomatic, 33.3 % (3/9) from oligosymptomatic, and 5.2 % (4/76) from asymptomatic dogs. These findings strongly suggested that despite the higher frequency of asymptomatic dogs (76 %—105), the majority (72.4 %—76) was characterized by the IFAT(+) /DTH(−) profile with a doubtful immunogenetic resistance against infection.
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Funding
This research was supported by Evandro Chagas Institute (Health Ministry, Brazil), Tropical Medicine Institute (Federal University of Pará state, Brazil), Wellcome Trust (London), and Laboratório de Investigação Médica (LIM)—50 (Hospital de Clínicas (HC)—Faculdade de Medicina (FM)—Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Brazil.
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Silveira, F.T., Carneiro, L.A., Ramos, P.K.S. et al. A cross-sectional study on canine Leishmania (L.) infantum chagasi infection in Amazonian Brazil ratifies a higher prevalence of specific IgG-antibody response than delayed-type hypersensitivity in symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs. Parasitol Res 111, 1513–1522 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-2989-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-2989-4