Epidemiological Investigation of Canine Leishmaniasis in Southern Morocco

Abstract

Dogs are the major reservoir ofLeishmania infantum, the causative agent of human and canine visceral leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean basin. In Morocco, canine leishmaniasis (CanL) is usually believed to be widespread mainly, if not only, in the northern regions and few data are available about the situation in southern parts of the country. Here, we report the results of a preliminary, clinical, and serological study carried out in 2004–2007, in four provinces of southern Morocco. Serological analyses were processed using two different Elisa techniques, a homemade Elisa test and IDVET commercial kit, and confirmed by two different western blot (WB) tests, homemade and LDBIO commercial kits. We highlighted the presence of CanL infection in southern regions, known until then as free of the disease: 19.8% (48/243) of examined dogs displayed clinical signs compatible with CanL and the seroprevalence was particularly high, respectively, 81.8% and 87.8% by Elisa and western blot tests. Our current developed and validated homemade (Elisa and WB) tools will be cost-effective and useful for next large-scale epidemiological studies on Moroccan leishmaniasis animal reservoir.

Spatial patterns and secular trends in human leishmaniasis incidence in Morocco between 2003 and 2013

“…4 ). High seroprevalences of canine leishmaniasis and low human VL incidence rates were also reported in Marrakech, El Haouz, and Azilal [ 23 ], however, in the current study, in none of these provinces was a trend variation observed, and significant clustering was only observed from 2010 to 2013 in Azilal and El Haouz, as a result of a potential diffusion of zoonotic CL from the northeastern provinces (see Fig. 5 ).…”

“…In Chichaoua, the highest HLIRs (CL and VL combined) were observed (see Fig. 4 ), and a high seroprevalence of canine leishmaniasis as well as low human VL incidence rates were reported [ 23 ]. Similar fluctuations and same activity period of Phlebotomus perniciosus and Phlebotomus longicuspis were observed in Chichaoua as in the Sefrou province [ 24 ].…”

Molecular detection of Leishmania infantum and Leishmania tropica in rodent species from endemic cutaneous leishmaniasis areas in Morocco

“…In the present study, the regions of Chichaoua, Al Haouz and Essaouira were known to be endemic foci of L. tropica- induced cutaneous leishmaniasis for humans [ 47 – 49 ], while, L. infantum is reported responsible for sporadic human cases of visceral leishmaniasis in these areas [ 50 , 51 ]. In the same study area, Boussaa et al [ 23 ] reported L. infantum- induced leishmaniasis in dogs, which returned very high seroprevalence results (81.8 and 87.8% as determined by ELISA and Western blotting, respectively).…”

“…In the present work, molecular methods were used to detect Leishmania infection in wild-caught rodents from central Morocco, from where both cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis has been reported in humans [ 17 , 23 ].…”

Urbanization of human visceral leishmaniasis in Morocco

“…HVL is caused by Leishmania infantum , protozoan parasite, and transmitted by the bite of certain species of sandfly (Diptera, Psychodidae, Phlebotominae), belonging to the subgenus Larroussius : Phlebotomus ariasi and potentially P. perniciosus and P. longicuspis ( Guessouss-Idrissi et al, 1997 , Kahime et al, 2015b ). L. infantum in Morocco can cause also zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis and canine leishmaniasis in the north and center-south regions of the country ( Kahime et al, 2015a , Boussaa et al, 2014 ) with the domestic dog is the main reservoir host for all forms ( Rhajaoui, 2011 , Kahime et al, 2014 ).…”