Infectivity of dogs naturally infected with Leishmania infantum to colonized Phlebotomus perniciosus.

A study was carried out on the infectivity to sandflies of 16 dogs naturally parasitized by Leishmania infantum. All dogs were seropositive and the parasite had been isolated from all except one. They were divided into 3 clinical groups: 5 asymptomatic, 4 oligosymptomatic, and 7 polysymptomatic dogs. The dogs were exposed to female Phlebotomus perniciosus from a local colony and 7 d later the fed females were dissected in order to determine their rate of infection. There was wide variability of the percentage of fed and infected sandflies within each clinical group of dogs, with no significant difference between the 3 groups; the infectivity to sandflies was independent of the extent of symptoms in the dogs.