Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare molecular tests used to diagnose Leishmania spp. in dogs with different stages of infection. Blood and conjunctival swab (CS) samples from dogs classified in four clinical stages were subjected to different PCR protocols (13A/13B, MC1/MC2, LITSR/L5.8S and LEISH-1/LEISH-2 primers). To the study, 22.3% (48/215) of dogs were classified as without clinical signs, 67.5% (145/215) stage I (mild disease), 7.0% (15/215) stage II (moderate disease) and 3.2% (7/215) stage III (severe disease). The results showed that in blood samples, 13A/13B detected a significant higher number of positive dogs in stage I (25/145) and in total (42/215) (p≤0.05). However, when CS samples were tested, no difference was observed (p>0.05). On the other hand, in blood samples, MC1/MC2 detected significantly fewer positive dogs classified as without clinical signs (0/48), in stage I (0/145) and in total (1/215) (p≤0.05). Likewise, in CS samples, this primers showed also lower detection (1/215) (p≤0.05). So than, we can conclude that PCR on blood samples with 13A/13B primers has greater capacity to detect positive dogs, mainly at the initial of clinical disease than do other primers and MC1/MC2 are not a good choice to detect Leishmania infantum infection in dogs.
Highlights
The leishmaniases are a group of zoonotic infectious diseases that affect humans and domestic and wild animals
Regarding DNA extracted from blood samples, tests using primers 13A/13B detected a significantly higher number of positive dogs in stage I (25/145) and in total (42/215) than did the other tests (p≤0.05)
LITSR/L5.8S showed a higher number of positive animals (21/215), there was no significant difference between the results from use of these primers and those from Quantitative PCR (qPCR) with LEISH-1/LEISH-2 (15/215), independent of clinical stage (p>0.05) (Table 3)
Summary
The leishmaniases are a group of zoonotic infectious diseases that affect humans and domestic and wild animals They are caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania (DESJEUX, 2004; WHO, 2016). One hundred and two countries in East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North and East Africa, Southern Europe (Mediterranean) and Central and South America are considered endemic for leishmaniases (ALVAR et al, 2012; WHO, 2016). In these countries, it has been estimated that approximately 0.2 to 0.4 million new cases of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and 0.7 to 1.2 million new cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) occur every year (WHO, 2016). These cases form a challenge for public health (LOPES et al, 2016)
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