Belinchón-Lorenzo Silvia, Muñoz-Madrid Rubén, Grano Fernanda Grecco, Iniesta Virginia, Fernández-Cotrina Javier, Parejo Juan Carlos, Monroy Isabel, Baz Victoria, Gómez-Luque Adela, Barneto José Luis, Bordini Carolina Grecco Grano, Machado Gisele Fabrino, Gómez-Nieto Luis Carlos
LeishmanCeres Laboratory (GLP Compliance Certificated), Parasitology Unit, Veterinary Faculty, University of Extremadura, Avenida de la Universidad s/n, 10003 Cáceres, Spain.
LeishmanCeres Laboratory (GLP Compliance Certificated), Parasitology Unit, Veterinary Faculty, University of Extremadura, Avenida de la Universidad s/n, 10003 Cáceres, Spain.
Vet Parasitol Reg Stud Reports. 2019 Jan;15:100267. doi: 10.1016/j.vprsr.2019.100267. Epub 2019 Jan 30.
Visceral leishmaniosis (VL) remains a serious public health problem in Brazil. Dogs are the main hosts of the parasite, developing canine leishmaniosis (CanL), hence the importance of an accurate diagnosis of the animals. Recently, the application of qPCR method to non-invasive samples obtained from dogs with CanL has shown high sensitivity. Thus, we analyzed by qPCR blood, hair (from healthy zones and cutaneous lesions) and cerumen of 16 dogs with confirmed leishmaniosis from Araçatuba, a Brazilian endemic area. Cerumen-qPCR showed the highest sensitivity (87.5%), followed by hair (lesions: 78.57%, healthy skin: 62.5%), and blood (68.75%). We also analyzed blood, hair and cerumen of 5 healthy dogs from a non-endemic area, obtaining 100% of specificity in all samples. The use of cerumen and hair for qPCR analysis provides high reliability, taking into account the sensitivity and total specificity of the method. The non-invasive sampling procedure without the need of specific conditions of storage and transport support the usefulness of hair and cerumen for the diagnosis of CanL.
内脏利什曼病（VL）在巴西仍然是一个严重的公共卫生问题。狗是该寄生虫的主要宿主，会患上犬利什曼病（CanL），因此准确诊断动物非常重要。最近，将qPCR方法应用于从患有CanL的狗身上获取的非侵入性样本显示出高灵敏度。因此，我们通过qPCR分析了来自巴西流行地区阿拉萨图巴的16只确诊利什曼病的狗的血液、毛发（来自健康部位和皮肤病变处）和耳垢。耳垢qPCR显示出最高的灵敏度（87.5%），其次是毛发（病变处：78.57%，健康皮肤：62.5%）和血液（68.75%）。我们还分析了来自非流行地区的5只健康狗的血液、毛发和耳垢，所有样本的特异性均为100%。考虑到该方法的灵敏度和总体特异性，使用耳垢和毛发进行qPCR分析具有很高的可靠性。无需特定储存和运输条件的非侵入性采样程序支持了毛发和耳垢在CanL诊断中的实用性。
