Article
Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Epidemiologic Surveys of Human and Canine Leishmania infantum Visceral Infections in an Endemic Rural Area of Southeast Brazil (Pancas, Espírito Santo)
Registro en:
FALQUETO, Aloísio; et al. Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Epidemiologic Surveys of Human and Canine Leishmania infantum Visceral Infections in an Endemic Rural Area of Southeast Brazil (Pancas, Espírito Santo). Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., v.80, n.4, p. 559–565, 2009.
0002-9637
1476-1645
Autor
Falqueto, Aloísio
Ferreira, Adelson L.
Santos, Claudinei B. dos
Porrozzi, Renato
Costa, Marcos V. Santos da
Teva, Antonio
Cupolillo, Elisa
Campos Neto, Antonio
Grimaldi Jr., Gabriel
Resumen
In an endemic rural area of southeast Brazil, surveys confirmed that dogs serve as peridomestic reservoirs of
Leishmania infantum . It is likely that the lack of efficient control is because presently used diagnostic tests miss positive
dogs. Overall, 57% of the dogs had specific antibodies, but the canine infection was not uniformly fatal and many seropositive
dogs remained asymptomatic or even spontaneously recovered. Furthermore, 42% of the human residents became
leishmanin-positive reactors and 47% had positive serology at the initial survey, but our estimates also point at a high
recovery rate among the infected population with time. The delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH ) reaction to Leishmania
was a good indicator of resistance to infection in this particular epidemiologic situation. The lack of any significant differences
in infection rates by gender or age indicate that all of the population was at an equal risk of infection and most
people were infected in the peridomestic setting.