Epidemiologic, Clinical and Immunological Consequences of Co-Infections during Canine Leishmaniosis

Abstract

Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) is a vector-borne, parasitic disease. CanL is endemic in the Mediterranean basin and South America but also found in Northern Africa, Asia, and the U.S. Regions with both competent sand fly vectors and L. infantum parasites are also endemic for additional infectious diseases that could cause co-infections in dogs. Growing evidence indicates that co-infections can impact immunologic responses and thus the clinical course of both CanL and the comorbid disease(s). The aim for this review is to summarize epidemiologic, clinical, and immunologic factors contributing to eight primary co-infections reported with CanL: Ehrlichia spp., Anaplasma spp., Borrelia spp., Babesia spp., Trypanosoma cruzi, Toxoplasma gondii, Dirofilaria immitis, Paracoccidioides braziliensis. Co-infection causes mechanistic differences in immunity which can alter diagnostics, therapeutic management, and prognosis of dogs with CanL. More research is needed to further explore immunomodulation during CanL co-infection(s) and their clinical impact.

Use of In-Clinic Diagnostic Kits for the Detection of Seropositivity to Leishmania infantum and Other Major Vector-Borne Pathogens in Healthy Dogs

“…Regarding Greece, the results confirm that the studied CVBDs are enzootic in this country and may occur at a relatively high seroprevalence in apparently healthy dogs, particularly since these pathogens can produce subclinical infections that could be associated with diseases detectable only with laboratory analyses, e.g., early kidney disease [39]. The higher seroprevalence in this group was not surprising, as many of the dogs examined in Greece were previously strays, having little veterinary or preventive care prior to the time of the study.…”

Evaluation of the cross-reaction between Leishmania spp and T. cruzi by structural equation model

“…and parasites such as Babesia spp., Neospora spp. and Toxoplasma gondii (Zanette et al, 2014) among others, including Dirofilaria immitis, Paracoccidioides braziliensis (Beasley et al, 2021), as it has been described in the published literature in several regions of Brazil.…”

“…Cross-reactivity impairs the ability to identify whether a dog is actively experiencing a Leishmania spp. co-infection with T. cruzi if it has had prior exposure to any of the pathogens or cross-reactivity in a diagnostic test (Beasley et al, 2021) or even as a result of co-infections in dogs by multiple trypanosomatids (Porfirio et al, 2018), bacteria such as Ehrlichia spp., Anaplasma spp., Borrelia spp. and parasites such as Babesia spp., Neospora spp.…”

“…The effects of these co-infections on the epidemiology, immune responses, clinical presentation, and management of Canine Leishmaniasis (CL) are important for understanding the clinical and molecular and epidemiological, clinical and immunological consequences of co-infections during leishmaniasis dogs with other vector-borne diseases can accelerate the progression of CL (Beasley et al, 2021).…”

Modulation of Macrophage Redox and Apoptotic Processes to Leishmania infantum during Coinfection with the Tick-Borne Bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi

“…Concomitant infections are frequently observed in Leishmania -infected dogs, particularly bacterial ( B. burgdorferi , Ehrlichia spp., Anaplasma spp.) infections [ 91 ]. Ehrlichia spp.…”