Occurrence of canine leishmaniasis in the municipality of Ourinhos-SP

• Grant number: 18/00184-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2018
• End date: April 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Breno Fernando Martins de Almeida
• Grantee: Douglas Aparecido da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdades Integradas de Ourinhos (FIO). Fundação Educacional Miguel Mofarrej. Ourinhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis is an enzootic disease that is among the neglected diseases accordingo to the World Health Organization. Currently the disease is endemic in Brazil and has already been described in all the states of the country, but even so few studies are carried out with the objective of detecting the spread of the disease in the beginning. According to the latest Paulista Epidemiological Bulletin, the municipality of Ourinhos is classified as a non-receptive and vulnerable area, due to the proximity of endemic cities such as Bauru and Marília and due to the fact that the phlebotominal vector of the disease has not yet been detected in the municipality. According to unpublished data and recents reports of our laboratory to the Sanitary Surveillance of the Municipality, in 2016 and 2017, about five dogs were diagnosed with canine leishmaniasis in our Clinical Laboratory, and in 2017 another diagnosis was made at a private clinic in the city, as reported in the local newspapers. Considering that there are no scientific epidemiological studies about the prevalence of the disease in the city and that usually canine cases precede human cases, this study aims to determine if there is autochthonous canine transmission in the city, to associate risk factors in the city's canine population and to conduct a a pilot study with the occurrence of the disease in the city so that it is possible to determine the actual prevalence in future studies, determining the appropriate sample size. To do this, the city was divided into 31 blocks and considering the estimated canine population of 15,000 animals and a maximum prevalence of 50%, will be collected at least 530 blood samples of dogs from all regions of the city during the vaccination campaign against rage, after due signature of the consent term of the tutors. The serology will be performed at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Araçatuba (FMVA - Unesp) by indirect ELISA with crude total antigen of Leishmania infantum according to methodology previously described. Diagnostic confirmation will be performed by the detection of amastigote forms of Leishmania spp. aspiration of lymph node. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DA SILVA, DOUGLAS APARECIDO; MINUCCI BONATTO, NATALIA CAMILA; VENTURIN, GABRIELA LOVIZUTTO; MELO, LARISSA MARTINS; DE OLIVEIRA, PAULA LIMA; COSTA, LETICIA RAMOS; MELO BOSCULO, MARIA RACHEL; DE BARROS, LUIZ DANIEL; FELIX DE LIMA, VALERIA MARCAL; MARTINS DE ALMEIDA, BRENO FERNANDO. Epidemiology of canine visceral leishmaniasis in a vulnerable region in Brazil. REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE PARASITOLOGIA VETERINARIA, v. 30, n. 3, 2021. (18/00184-8)