Abstract
BackgroundDuring last decade Lampedusa island (Italy) has been interested by a deep social change caused by the massive arrival of migrants from north Africa. The goal of this study was to evaluate current CanL burden and risk factors for Visceral Leishmaniosis (VL) on Lampedusa, actually based on very few data obtained in a previous study performed fifteen years ago. Two hundred and forty-two dogs were enrolled for the detection of Leishmania infantum infection by serology. In addition, an entomological investigation was performed to confirm the presence of Leishmania-vectors.ResultsSeroprevalence was of 54.13%. 223 sand flies specimens were collected. Among them, 4 species were identified: Phlebotomus perniciosus, P. papatasi, P. neglectus, Sergentomia minuta, with P. perniciosus the most abundant (67.7%; p < 0.01).ConclusionThe high proportion of seropositive dogs together with the presence of the most competent vector for L. infantum, P. perniciosus, demonstrate that L. infantum abundantly circulates in the island and may constitute a risk for people, particularly for hosted migrants.
Highlights
During last decade Lampedusa island (Italy) has been interested by a deep social change caused by the massive arrival of migrants from north Africa
Zoonotic Visceral Leishmaniosis (ZVL) is an important zoonotic disease which is associated with the long history of companionship between dogs and humans
P. perniciosus was the most abundant (67.7%; p < 0.01), followed by S. minuta (28.5%) and P. papatasi (3.3%)
Summary
During last decade Lampedusa island (Italy) has been interested by a deep social change caused by the massive arrival of migrants from north Africa. The goal of this study was to evaluate current CanL burden and risk factors for Visceral Leishmaniosis (VL) on Lampedusa, based on very few data obtained in a previous study performed fifteen years ago. ZVL, caused by Leishmania infantum parasites is transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies vectors. Despite provoking a limited number of overt human clinical cases – in comparison with global leishmaniosis figures – L. infantum represents a latent public health threat in the European Union (EU) because studies performed in several endemic foci have disclosed a high prevalence of asymptomatic parasite carriers [1]. More than 95% of the dog are owned
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