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Low infectiousness of a wildlife host of Leishmania infantum: the crab-eating fox is not important for transmission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2003

O. COURTENAY ,
R. J. QUINNELL ,
L. M. GARCEZ  and
C. DYE
O. COURTENAY
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, UK Ecology and Epidemiology Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
R. J. QUINNELL
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, UK School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
L. M. GARCEZ
Affiliation:
Instituto Evandro Chagas, Belém, Pará, Brazil
C. DYE
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, UK Communicable Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
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Abstract

The epidemiological role of the crab-eating fox Cerdocyon thous in the transmission of Leishmania infantum is assessed in a longitudinal study in Amazon Brazil. A total of 37 wild-caught foxes were immunologically and clinically monitored, and 26 foxes exposed to laboratory colonies of the sandfly vector Lutzomyia longipalpis, over a 15-month period. In total 78% (29/37) of foxes were seropositive for anti-Leishmania IgG on at least 1 occasion, and 38% (8/37) had infections confirmed by PCR and/or by culture. Point prevalences were 74% (serology), 15% (PCR), and 26% (culture). No signs of progressive disease were observed. None of the foxes were infectious to the 1469 sandflies dissected from 44 feeds. A conservative estimate of the possible contribution of foxes to transmission was 9% compared to 91% by sympatric domestic dogs. These results show that crab-eating fox populations do not maintain a transmission cycle independently of domestic dogs. The implication is that they are unlikely to introduce the parasite into Leishmania-free dog populations.

Keywords

Leishmania infantuminfectiousnessCerdocyon thousBrazil, fox
Type
Original article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 125 , Issue 5 , May 2002 , pp. 407 - 414
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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