Epidemiological study and ecological aspects of canine visceral leishmaniasis in the Maranhão State

Author(s)

Andrea Pereira da Costa

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ/SBD)
• Defense date: 2015-04-30

Examining board members

Arlei Marcili; Ricardo Augusto Dias; Rita de Maria Seabra Nogueira de Candanedo Guerra; Marcelo Bahia Labruna; Richard de Campos Pacheco

• Advisor: Arlei Marcili

Abstract

Demographic transformations and global climate change, added to people living in extreme poverty and without public politics are factors that create conditions for the for the constant emergence of new forms of disease expression. Among the main medical importance parasites, we highlight different species of Leishmania and Trypanosoma genres, protozoa agent of a broad spectrum of diseases. This study was performed in Maranhão, due to its location between the North and Northeast regions, Brazil, where is a great diversity of ecosystems, environmental interference and disordered population migration with eco-epidemiological change to level of endemicity of tropical diseases. The main objective of the study is to know the magnitude of the exposure dogs for Leishmania infantum chagasi from Maranhão State and their wild reservoirs from different ecosystems, besides to know the diversity of Trypanosoma parasites in wild animals by parasitological (isolation in hemoculture BAB/LIT), serological (IFI, DPP and ELISA), molecular diagnosis (SSU rDNA e gGAPDH). A total of 160 samples were collected for each ecosystemin the counties of São Bento (Baixada Maranhense), Cururupu (Mangue), Caxias (Cocais), Açailândia (Amazônia), São Domingo (Cerrado) and Barreirinhas (Restinga).To capture small mammals type cages traps were used (Shermman and Tomahawk) and mist nets to catch bats. A total of 7/960 (0.73%) samples were positives for L. infantum chagasi by culture and two cryopreserved isolated. Of the serological assays, 148/960 (15.4%), 126/960 (13.1%) and 568/960 (59.1%) were positives for DPP, IFI and ELISA. Samples were obtained from 133 wild animals of Chiroptera, Rodentia, Carnívora, Didelphimorphia orders distributed in 34 species. Blood cultures of these animals resulted in eleven positive samples and nine cryopreserved isolates from bats and marsupials. Phylogenetic analysis based on SSU rDNA gene segregated isolates from wild animals obtained in Trypanosoma cruzi marinkellei (two isolates) and Trypanosoma cruzi (seven isolates) (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/19853-8 - Epidemiological study and ecological aspects of canine visceral leishmaniasis in Maranhão State.
• Grantee: Andréa Pereira da Costa
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate