Epidemiological and genetic studies suggest a common Leishmania infantum transmission cycle in wildlife, dogs and humans associated to vector abundance in Southeast Spain

Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships between Leishmania infantum from dogs, humans and wildlife in south‐east Spain

“…Restriction fragment length polymorphism was less discriminating than SNP genotyping, but it was similarly able to group L. infantum variants specific to humans (genotypes T and F), humans and dogs (genotype S) and those present in humans, dogs and wildlife (genotype B). Leishmania infantum genotypes B and F appear to be widespread in humans in Europe and Latin America (Cortes et al, ; da Silva et al, ; Risueño et al, ; Schönian et al, ). The former was also found in foxes in Murcia (Risueño et al, ) but herein described for the first time in dogs from Spain.…”

“…Leishmania infantum genotypes B and F appear to be widespread in humans in Europe and Latin America (Cortes et al, ; da Silva et al, ; Risueño et al, ; Schönian et al, ). The former was also found in foxes in Murcia (Risueño et al, ) but herein described for the first time in dogs from Spain. Genotype F was detected here among HVL and HCL patients of similar age (adults) and different nationalities (Spanish and non‐Spanish), and also in two immunocompromised HVL Portuguese patients, one HCL case in France (Cortes et al, from Blaineau, Bastien, & Pagès, ; Cortes et al, ) and in one Leishmania chagasi (syn.…”

“…Whilst the dog is the main reservoir host of the parasite in the domestic environment, humans are considered an accidental host (Otranto et al, ; Quinnell & Courtenay, ). Moreover, other mammals, including a wide range of wildlife, have been molecularly diagnosed as L. infantum ‐positive (Del Río et al, ; Millán, Ferroglio, & Solano‐Gallego, ; Risueño et al, ). However, clinical signs are rarely reported in wildlife and most infected individuals have low parasite loads.…”

“…The above genotypes have been also related with the human patients' immunological status, with genotypes A and B being more commonly found in immunocompromised and immunocompetent individuals, respectively (Cortes et al, ). In a recent study, Risueño et al () assigned L. infantum from seven foxes from Murcia Region in south‐east Spain, to RFLP genotype B, which is the most frequent in humans from Spain, Brazil and Morocco and in dogs from the latter two countries. The detection in this study of common genotypes among parasites from dogs, humans and wildlife, coupled with spacially matching CanL and HumL and vector distributions, suggested a common epidemiological cycle of infection.…”

Molecular xenomonitoring and host identification of Leishmania sand fly vectors in a Mediterranean periurban wildlife park

“…Recently, L. infantum DNA was diagnosed by PCR in skin samples from three wolves ( Canis lupus ) and one brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) from the Murcia city wildlife park, in south‐east Spain (Ortuño et al, ; Risueño et al, ). The area is L. infantum endemic, and the estimated PCR prevalence was 67% in dogs (Chitimia et al, ), 32% in free wildlife (mostly foxes, rabbits and rodents) (Risueño et al, ) and 8% in human blood donors (Pérez‐Cutillas et al, ). Since it was not possible to collect samples for L. infantum diagnosis from a representative number of the animals in the park, we investigated the abundance, L. infantum infection prevalence and bloodmeal sources of sand flies in the park.…”