Survey of Plasmodium in the golden-headed lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas) living in urban Atlantic forest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Elizabeth Helen Aitken,Marina Galvão Bueno,José M Alvaréz,Luana Dos Santos Ortolan,Sabrina Epiphanio,Alcides Pissinatti,José Luiz Catão-Dias,Maria Cecília Martins Kierulff

doi:10.1186/s12936-016-1155-3

Abstract

Background Communicating the presence of potential zoonotic pathogens such as Plasmodium spp. in wild animals is important for developing both animal and human health policies.MethodsThe translocation of an exotic and invasive population of Leontopithecus chrysomelas (golden-headed lion tamarins) required the screening of these animals for specific pathogens. This studies objective was to investigate Plasmodium spp. infection in the L. chrysomelas, both to know its prevalence in these animals in the local area and to minimize the risk of pathogens being translocated to the destination site. To investigate Plasmodium spp. infection, blood samples from 268 animals were assessed for the presence of Plasmodium spp. by genus-specific PCR and stained thick and thin blood smears were examined by light microscopy. Data of human malaria infection in the studied region was also assembled from SINAN (Diseases Information System Notification—Ministry of Health of Brazil).ResultsResults from the PCR and microscopy were all negative and suggested that no L. chrysomelas was infected with Plasmodium spp. Analysis of SINAN data showed that malaria transmission is present among the human population in the studied region.ConclusionsThis study is the first to provide information on Plasmodium spp. infection in L. chrysomelas.Plasmodium spp. infection of this species is rare or absent though malaria parasites circulate in the region. In addition, there is minimal risk of translocating Plasmodium spp. infected animals to the destination site.

Highlights

Communicating the presence of potential zoonotic pathogens such as Plasmodium spp. in wild ani‐ mals is important for developing both animal and human health policies
According to SINAN from the Brazilian Ministry of Health [28] the number of human malaria cases has increased each year in Rio de Janeiro state, with 945 cases of Plasmodium spp. infections reported in the state between 2001 and 2012, including 200 cases from 2012
Infection of the family Callitrichidae with Plasmodium spp. has been found in only four animals out of 604 Callitrichidae animals tested in Brazil between 1937 and 2013 [2, 9, 25, 29, 30] with the parasite being identified as P. brasilianum

Summary

Introduction

Communicating the presence of potential zoonotic pathogens such as Plasmodium spp. in wild ani‐ mals is important for developing both animal and human health policies. Malaria is a disease caused by infection with Plasmodium spp. parasites. It causes significant morbidity and mortality with 143,415 confirmed cases in Brazil in 2014 [1]. As well as infecting humans, Plasmodium spp. infect other animals including non-human primates. In Brazil, there are two Plasmodium spp. regularly identified in non-human primate populations, Plasmodium brasilianum and Plasmodium simium [2]. From the majority of other primate-infective Plasmodium, which tend to infect hosts within the same taxonomic family, P. brasilianum infects hosts from at least three families of primates [3], including the family Callitrichidae [2] to which Leontopithecus spp. belong [4]. In the case of P. brasilianum, humans can be infected when exposed to sporozoites or blood stage parasites from non-human primate infections and it is transmitted by mosquito vectors to which both

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