Detection of Leishmania infantum in Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks from Brazil and Italy (original) (raw)

Abstract

Canine leishmaniosis is a widespread disease caused by Leishmania parasites, which are transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies. However, in some areas where canine leishmaniosis is endemic, but the primary vectors have not been found, ticks have been suspected to play a role in transmitting the infection. Herewith, we report the detection of Leishmania infantum kinetoplast minicircle DNA (kDNA) in ticks collected from naturally infected dogs living in rural areas of Southern Italy (site A) and Northeastern Brazil (site B). Between March and October 2007, ticks were collected from 26 dogs positive to anti-Leishmania antibodies (one from site A and 25 from site B) and either placed directly into vials containing 70% ethanol or maintained alive for identification and subsequent dissection. All the 95 ticks collected were morphologically identified as Rhipicephalus sanguineus. After identification, their genomic DNA was extracted (either individually or in pools) and processed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of L. infantum kDNA. Two pools of salivary glands from ticks (one from five females and other from five males) found on a dog from site A and tested by a conventional PCR were positive. Amplicon sequencing confirmed the identity of the parasite. In addition, nine (12.3%) out of the 73 ticks found on dogs from site B and tested by a real-time PCR were positive, with a low parasite load (less than 1 parasite/ml). The retrieval of L. infantum kDNA in salivary glands of R. sanguineus ticks has been here reported for the first time. Therefore, further studies are needed to assess the competence of ticks as vectors of Leishmania parasites from dog to dog.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

• Starting from 10 chapters or articles per month
• Access and download chapters and articles from more than 300k books and 2,500 journals
• Cancel anytime View plans

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

• Aragão HB, Fonseca F (1961) Notas de Ixodologia. VIII. Lista e chave para representantes da fauna Ixodológica Brasileira. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 59:115–129
  PubMed Google Scholar
• Blanc G, Caminopetros J (1930) La transmission du Kala—Azar méditerranéen par une tique: Rhipicephalus sanguineus. C R Acad Sci 191:1162–1164
  Google Scholar
• Carvalho MR, Lima BS, Marinho-Júnior JF, Silva FJ, Valença HF, Almeida FA, Silva AL, Brandão-Filho SP (2007) Phlebotomine sandfly species from an American visceral leishmaniasis area in the Northern Rainforest Region of Pernambuco State, Brazil. Cad Saude Publica 23:1227–1232
  PubMed Google Scholar
• Cortes S, Rolao N, Ramada J, Campino L (2004) PCR as a rapid and sensitive tool in the diagnosis of human and canine leishmaniasis using Leishmania donovani s.l.-specific kinetoplastid primers. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 98:12–17
  Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
• Coutinho MT, Linardi PM (2007) Can fleas from dogs infected with canine visceral leishmaniasis transfer the infection to other mammals? Vet Parasitol 147:320–325
  Article PubMed Google Scholar
• Coutinho MT, Bueno LL, Sterzik A, Fujiwara RT, Botelho JR, Maria M, Genaro O, Linardi PM (2005) Participation of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari: Ixodidae) in the epidemiology of canine visceral leishmaniasis. Vet Parasitol 128:149–155
  Article PubMed Google Scholar
• Dantas-Torres F (2008) The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) (Acari: Ixodidae): from taxonomy to control. Vet Parasitol 152:173–185
  Article PubMed Google Scholar
• Dantas-Torres F, Faustino MAG, Lima OC, Acioli RV (2005) Epidemiologic surveillance of canine visceral leishmaniasis in the municipality of Recife, Pernambuco. Rev Soc Bras Med Trop 38:444–445
  PubMed Google Scholar
• Duprey ZH, Steurer FJ, Rooney JA, Kirchhoff LV, Jackson JE, Rowton ED, Schantz PM (2006) Canine visceral leishmaniasis, United States and Canada, 2000-2003. Emerg Infect Dis 12:440–446
  PubMed Google Scholar
• Freitas E, Melo MN, Costa-Val AP, Michalick MS (2006) Transmission of Leishmania infantum via blood transfusion in dogs: potential for infection and importance of clinical factors. Vet Parasitol 137:159–167
  Article PubMed Google Scholar
• Giraud P, Ranque J, Cabassu H (1954) Epidemiologie de la leishmaniose viscérale humaine mediterranéenne, en particulier dans sés rapports avec la leishmaniose canine. Arch Fr Ped 11:337–353
  CAS Google Scholar
• Machattie C, Chadwick CR (1930) Notes on a trypanosome infection of the dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus in Iraq. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 23:417–420
  Article Google Scholar
• Manilla G (1998) Fauna D’Italia Acari Ixodida. Edizioni Caderini, Bologna
  Google Scholar
• McKenzie KK (1984) A study of the transmission of canine leishmaniasis by the tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, and an ultrastructural comparison of the promastigote. PhD Dissertation, Oklahoma State University
• Otranto D, Dantas-Torres F, Breitschwerdt EB (2009a) Managing canine vector-borne diseases of zoonotic concern: part one. Trends Parasitol 25:157–163
  Article PubMed Google Scholar
• Otranto D, Paradies P, de Caprariis D, Stanneck D, Testini G, Grimm F, Deplazes P, Capelli G (2009b) Toward diagnosing Leishmania infantum infection in asymptomatic dogs in an area where leishmaniasis is endemic. Clin Vaccine Immunol 16:337–343
  Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
• Paiva BR, Secundino NF, Nascimento JC, Pimenta PF, Galati EA, Junior HF, Malafronte RS (2006) Detection and identification of Leishmania species in field-captured phlebotomine sandflies based on mini-exon gene PCR. Acta Trop 99:252–259
  Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
• Paiva Cavalcanti M, Brito MEF, de Souza WV, Gomes YG, Abath FG (2008) The development of a real-time PCR assay for the quantification of Leishmania infantum DNA in canine blood. Vet J 182:356–358
  Article PubMed Google Scholar
• Prina E, Roux E, Mattei D, Milon G (2007) Leishmania DNA is rapidly degraded following parasite death: an analysis by microscopy and real-time PCR. Microbes Infect 9:1307–1315
  Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
• Rosypal AC, Troy GC, Zajac AM, Frank G, Lindsay DS (2005) Transplacental transmission of a North American isolate of Leishmania infantum in an experimentally infected beagle. J Parasitol 91:970–972
  Article PubMed Google Scholar
• Schantz PM, Steurer FJ, Duprey ZH, Kurpel KP, Barr SC, Jackson JE, Breitschwerdt EB, Levy MG, Fox JC (2005) Autochthonous visceral leishmaniasis in dogs in North America. J Am Vet Med Assoc 226:1316–1322
  Article PubMed Google Scholar
• Sherlock I (1964) Notas sôbre a transmissão da leishmaniose visceral no Brasil. Rev Bras Malariol D Trop 16:19–26
  CAS Google Scholar
• Silva OA, Silva PB, Silva OV, Braga GM, Albuquerque Júnior A, Queiros Neto V, Rocha ME, Silva EF (2007) La leishmaniose viscérale canine dans le Nord-Est du Brésil: aspects épidémiologiques. Bull Soc Pathol Exot 100:49–50
  CAS PubMed Google Scholar
• Silva FL, Oliveira RG, Silva TM, Xavier MN, Nascimento EF, Santos RL (2009a) Venereal transmission of canine visceral leishmaniasis. Vet Parasitol 160:55–59
  Article PubMed Google Scholar
• Silva SM, Ribeiro VM, Ribeiro RR, Tafuri WL, Melo MN, Michalick MSM (2009b) First report of vertical transmission of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum in a naturally infected bitch from Brazil. Vet Parasitol. doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2009.08.011
  Google Scholar

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq; grant 410481/2006-8) and the Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE; grant APq-00522.02/07) for financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Zootecnia, Università degli Studi di Bari, Valenzano, BA, Italy
   Filipe Dantas-Torres, Vincenzo Lorusso, Gabriella Testini, Luciana A. Figueredo & Domenico Otranto
2. Departamento de Imunologia, Centro de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Recife, PE, Brazil
   Milena de Paiva-Cavalcanti & Sinval P. Brandão-Filho
3. Bayer Health Care AG, Animal Health Division, Leverkusen, Germany
   Dorothee Stanneck & Norbert Mencke
4. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil
   Leucio C. Alves

Authors

1. Filipe Dantas-Torres
2. Vincenzo Lorusso
3. Gabriella Testini
4. Milena de Paiva-Cavalcanti
5. Luciana A. Figueredo
6. Dorothee Stanneck
7. Norbert Mencke
8. Sinval P. Brandão-Filho
9. Leucio C. Alves
10. Domenico Otranto

Corresponding author

Correspondence toFilipe Dantas-Torres.

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dantas-Torres, F., Lorusso, V., Testini, G. et al. Detection of Leishmania infantum in Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks from Brazil and Italy.Parasitol Res 106, 857–860 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-1722-4

Download citation

• Received: 09 October 2009
• Accepted: 04 January 2010
• Published: 03 February 2010
• Issue date: March 2010
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-1722-4

Keywords