1 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
2 Adolfo Lutz Institute, Center for Systemic Parasitic Diseases, São Paulo, Brazil.
Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2019 Apr;19(4):249-254. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2018.2348. Epub 2018 Oct 18.
Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne parasitic protozoan infection that affects mammals and involves a complex epidemiology. Although dogs are considered the main reservoir in zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (VL), the possible presence of other mammalian species acting as reservoirs has been associated as a possible cause of lack of success in the control of human VL in many endemic areas. The knowledge about natural infections of some species is still scarce, such as nonhuman primates (NHP), especially from the genus Callithrix (marmosets). We investigated the infection by Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum, the agent of VL in the Americas, in 26 marmosets captured monthly, from April 2014 to March 2015, in an environmentally protected area (EPA) in Southeastern Brazil. The EPA has undergone significant environmental changes and has a transmission focus of canine VL since 2009. Serology was performed through the direct agglutination test, which detected low antibody titers in seven marmosets (7/26; 26.9%, 95% confidence interval 9.9-44.0), being five Callithrix penicillata (black-tufted-ear marmoset) and two Callithrix jacchus (white-tufted-ear marmoset). The presence of the DNA of Leishmania was investigated in blood and skin samples by PCR and genetic sequencing. This is the first report of the detection of L. (L.) infantum in the skin of a marmoset, which was verified in a sample from one C. penicillata. The results demonstrate the natural infection of marmosets by L. (L.) infantum and may suggest the participation of these animals as hosts in the parasite's transmission cycle in the EPA. However, more comprehensive studies are needed to elucidate their role on the VL epidemiology in this area and also in different endemic areas, especially because these NHP are increasingly in contact with humans and domestic animals, particularly due to environmental changes.
利什曼病是一种由媒介传播的寄生虫原生动物感染，影响哺乳动物，并涉及复杂的流行病学。虽然狗被认为是动物源内脏利什曼病（VL）的主要储存宿主，但其他哺乳动物可能作为储存宿主的存在被认为是许多流行地区人类 VL 控制失败的可能原因。关于某些物种自然感染的知识仍然很少，例如非人类灵长类动物（NHP），特别是来自狨猴属（狨猴）的物种。我们调查了 26 只狨猴的感染情况，这些狨猴于 2014 年 4 月至 2015 年 3 月每月捕获一次，来自巴西东南部的一个环境保护区（EPA）。自 2009 年以来，EPA 经历了重大的环境变化，并成为犬源 VL 的传播焦点。通过直接凝集试验进行血清学检测，在 7 只狨猴（7/26；26.9%，95%置信区间 9.9-44.0）中检测到低抗体滴度，其中 5 只为 Callithrix penicillata（黑耳绒猴），2 只为 Callithrix jacchus（白耳绒猴）。通过 PCR 和基因测序检测血液和皮肤样本中是否存在利什曼原虫的 DNA。这是首次在一只狨猴的皮肤中检测到 L.（L.）婴儿的报告，在一只 C. penicillata 的样本中得到了验证。结果表明，狨猴自然感染了 L.（L.）婴儿，这可能表明这些动物作为宿主参与了 EPA 寄生虫传播周期。然而，需要进行更全面的研究来阐明它们在该地区和其他流行地区 VL 流行病学中的作用，特别是因为这些 NHP 越来越多地与人类和家畜接触，特别是由于环境变化。
