Coinfection by Toxoplasma gondii and Leishmania spp. in domestic cats (Felis catus) in State of Mato Grosso do Sul

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii and Leishmania spp. are protozoan parasites that cause zoonosis, are distributed worldwide, and affect domestic and wild animals and humans. Cats are important in the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis because they are the only hosts that can excrete the environmentally resistant stage: the oocysts 1 .In 1999, visceral leishmaniasis in cats was fi rst recorded by Hervas et al. 2 in Spain. Since then, current cases represent a widespread distribution, and include reports from Italy 3 , Portugal 4 , the United States 5 . In Brazil, the fi rst occurrence of Leishmania infantum in a cat was recorded in 2004 by Savani et al 5 . Some authors consider this animal an accidental host, while others suggest that felids can act as potential peridomestic reservoirs 6 . However, the role of cats in the epidemiology of leishmaniasis remains to be clarifi ed.The present study was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee (protocol 65/2007) of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry, São Paulo State University, following the Ethical Principles in Animal Experimentation. A total of 50 cats (Felis catus) that were domiciliated in the City of Campo Grande (20°26'34''S, 54°38'47''W) in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil were selected randomly without predilection for sex breed, or age. Blood samples were obtained to detect antibodies for T. gondii and Leishmania spp.The immunofl uorescence antibody test (IFAT) was performed, according to the method described by Camargo 7 , which used whole Leishmania major-like promastigote and the RH strain of T. gondii as the antigen for the diagnosis of leishmaniasis and toxoplasmosis, respectively. Modifi ed agglutination test (MAT) using the RH strain was performed, as described by Desmonts and Remington 8 . The cutoff T. gondii antibody titer for both tests was 16, and the corresponding value in IFAT for Leishmania spp. was 40.Two (4%) of the 50 animals presented titers of antibodies for T. gondii and Leishmania spp., which suggested coinfection by these two protozoa in the same animal. Cat #1 was a female of undefi ned breed, 2 years of age, and presented T. gondii antibody titers of 64 (based on IFAT) and 1,024 (based on MAT), and an antibody titer of 320 for Leishmania spp. Cat #2 was also a female of undefi ned breed, 3 years of age, and presented T. gondii titers of 16 (based on IFAT) and 1,024 (based on MAT), and a Leishmania spp. titer of 320 (Table 1). Neither cat presented clinical signs. Similar results were obtained by Cardia et al. 9 with specifi c anti-Toxoplasma immunoglobulin G (IgG) in 63 (16.3%) of 386 cats and IgG against Leishmania spp. in two serum samples with titers of 1:160 and 1:320, respectively. In a study conducted by Sobrinho et al. 10 in another Brazilian endemic area, 25.7% cats were coinfected with both agents. However, the authors did not observe a signifi cant association between these infections.In this study, the MAT and IFAT were used, based on the results for cats obtained by Macrì et al. 11 , with a concordance of 0.98 (i.e...

Serological and molecular investigation of Leishmania spp. infection in cats from an area endemic for canine and human leishmaniasis in Northeast Brazil

“…using PCR from blood samples did not give positive results for any of the animals. Similar results were observed by other authors, i.e., seropositive cats testing negative on PCR (BRAGA et al, 2014;CHATZIS et al, 2014;NOÉ et al, 2015;MONTOYA et al, 2018;COURA et al, 2018). This finding could be explained by the capability of the protozoan to compartmentalize in determined lymphoid organs such as bone marrow, lymph nodes, and spleen, by the absence of parasitemia at the moment of the blood collection, or because of a parasite burden lower than that of the detection limit of the test used (CHATZIS et al, 2014;COURA et al, 2018).…”

“…The FeL seropositivity here was higher than that observed in Recife and Teresina, where 3.9% and 4% of the cats were found be seropositive for FeL using ELISA (SILVA et al, 2014;MENDONÇA et al, 2017). Sero-epidemiological investigations in other regions of the country found frequencies varying from 0.5% to 54%, using IFAT and the same cut-off value adopted here (1:40) (VIDES et al, 2011;CARDIA et al, 2013;BRAGA et al, 2014;SOUSA et al, 2014;OLIVEIRA et al, 2015;GODOI et al, 2016;COURA et al, 2018;MATOS et al, 2018). In canine leishmaniasis, high serological titers (four times the established cut-off value) with clinical signs compatible with leishmaniasis are diagnostic for the disease (SOLANO-GALLEGO et al, 2011).…”

“…In Brazil, studies on FeL using serological, parasitological, and molecular methods revealed that infection frequencies varied from 0% to 54% (BRESCIANI et al, 2010;VIDES et al, 2011;CARDIA et al, 2013;BRAGA et al, 2014;SILVA et al, 2014;SOUSA et al, 2014;OLIVEIRA et al, 2015;GODOI et al, 2016;MENDONÇA et al, 2017;COURA et al, 2018;MATOS et al, 2018). Only a small fraction of these studies was performed in the Northeast region that was home to 82.5% of all reported cases of human leishmaniasis in Brazil between 1980 and 2005, making this region an area of epidemiological relevance for this disease in Brazil (MAIA-ELKHOURY et al, 2008;SILVA et al, 2014;MENDONÇA et al, 2017).…”

Infection by Mycoplasma spp., feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus in cats from an area endemic for visceral leishmaniasis

“…Recent studies have been performed worldwide to characterize co-infections with L. infantum and other infectious agents, including other vector-borne pathogens (VBP), in cats [ 19 – 22 ]. In Brazil, data on co-infections are still sparse and limited to reports of co-infections with the major feline retroviruses, FIV and FeLV [ 19 ], Toxoplasma gondii [ 19 , 23 , 24 ] and Neospora caninum [ 24 ]. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify co-infections with FVBPs, Mycoplasma spp., FIV and FeLV in Leishmania- infected and non-infected cats from an area endemic for VL in southeastern Brazil.…”

Antibodies anti-trypanosomatides in domestic cats in Paraná: who is at highest risk of infection?

“…Many of the seroprevalence studies for Leishmania spp. in cats have been carried out in endemic areas, mainly for VL (VIDES et al, 2011;ALVES-MARTIN, 2013;CARDIA et al, 2013;BRAGA et al, 2014). It is noteworthy that in Brazil, there are few records of anti-Leishmania spp.…”