Acute visceral leishmaniasis in a domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) from the state of Tocantins, Brazil

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is expanding in the Brazilian territory. Dogs are considered an important urban reservoir; however, studies have demonstrated the presence of infected cats in some Brazilian states. This report aimed to describe a case of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum infection in a two-month-old domestic feline from a Brazilian region with a high incidence of human visceral leishmaniasis. The analyzed samples were the cat’s blood, conjunctiva, spleen, liver, popliteal, submandibular and mesenteric lymph nodes, skin, lung and kidney. The diagnostic methods were: parasitological examination, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and an immunoflurescence antibody test (IFAT). All tissues were positive. The title obtained using the IFAT was 1:160. The animal was negative for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukemia virus (FeLV). This work addresses the first case of feline leishmaniasis in the state of Tocantins, and reveals data that may contribute to the knowledge of the disease, since it has been shown to be able to develop rapidly and fatally in kittens, with the ability to infect several tissues.

Natural Infection by Leishmania infantum in domestic cats (Felis catus) in a municipality of moderate transmission in the Brazilian semi-arid region

“…The PCR was positive in all the analyzed tissues. Similar result was found by Sousa et al (2019), who analyzed blood samples, conjunctiva, spleen, liver, lymph nodes, skin, lung, and kidney from a two-month old cat. Alves-Martin et al (2017), using the same primers as in the present study, detected 9.1% of whole blood positive samples, including animals with and without symptoms.…”

“…The visualization of the amastigote forms of the aspirates of the lesions and/or lymph nodes was positive for the majority of the reports in symptomatic cats (Bonfante-Garrido et al, 1996;Souza et al, 2009;Bresciani et al, 2010;Sousa et al, 2019) and, as in the dogs, the lesions seem to be due to the immune response against the parasites (Hervás et al, 2001). However, the negative cytological test of the bone marrow, spleen and live has already been reported (Grevot et al, 2005).…”

“…In cats, the leishmaniasis has already been reported in South America (Bonfante-Garrido et al, 1996), in North America (Trainor et al, 2010), in the Middle East (Solano-Gallego et al, 2007) and in Europe (Grevot et al, 2005;Pocholle et al, 2012). In Brazil, cases have already been described in the States of Minas Gerais (Passos et al, 1996), Rio de Janeiro (Figueiredo et al, 2008), Mato Grosso do Sul (Souza et al, 2009), São Paulo (Costa et al, 2010), Pernambuco (Silva et al, 2014), Mato Grosso (Madruga et al, 2018), Tocantins (Sousa et al, 2019), and Pará (Carneiro et al, 2020). Although the clinical disease is relatively uncommon, the most frequent clinical signs of feline leishmaniasis (FeL) are skin and/or mucocutaneous lesions and lymphadenomegaly caused by species such as Leishmania mexicana, L. venezuelensis, L. braziliensis, L. amazonensis and L. infantum (Bonfante-Garrido et al, 1996;Souza et al, 2009;Pocholle et al, 2012;Pennisi et al, 2015).…”