Infection of the equine population by Leishmania parasites

Abstract

Summary Infection of equids by Leishmania (L.) parasites was previously described in both the Old and New World, particularly in Central and South America. Equine cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is caused by the Leishmania species, L. Viannia (V.) braziliensis and L. infantum, previously identified in humans and other parasite hosts living in the same geographic endemic areas. Sporadic autochthonous clinical cases, with no travel history, were documented in several countries including Germany, Portugal, Spain, Texas and Brazil; L. infantum and L. (Mundinia) martiniquensis were the infectious species. Prevalence of subclinical infections is extremely low and CL is observed in only a small proportion of infected animals with the appearance of single or multiple cutaneous lesions located on the head, external ear, scrotum, legs and the neck. To date, there has been no report of visceral abnormalities. However, the mild clinical profile of the disease and its spontaneous regression may indicate that skin lesions related to Leishmania infection is underdiagnosed. Importantly, although the prevalence of Leishmania infections in the equine population is low, a risk may rise from its potential involvement in the parasite transmission cycles as a source of infection for phlebotomine vectors and susceptible mammalian hosts. This review article summarises our current knowledge of the epidemiology, clinical presentation and diagnosis of Leishmania‐infected equids.

Detecting antibodies to Leishmania infantum in horses from areas with different epizooticity levels of canine leishmaniosis and a retrospective revision of Italian data

“…In our study, the exposure of equids to L. infantum was assessed using IFAT, as previously described for other Leishmania hosts (e.g. humans, dogs and cats) [37,38] and according to similar studies performed on horses in South America and Europe [31,39]. In horses, an IFAT cut-off titer for Leishmania has not yet been defined, however a 1:40 dilution cut-off has been suggested as an adequate indicator of a specific reaction [31,40].…”

Avaliação Seminal Em Carneiros Da Raça Santa Inês E Mestiços (Santa Inês X Dorper) Submetidos À Insulação Escrotal

“…Canídeos, roedores e homens são as espécies mais afetadas, apesar de a infecção ter sido descrita em muitos outros animais, incluindo gatos (GREVOT et al, 2005;BENASSI et al, 2017;MOHEBALI et al, 2017;DEDOLA et al, 2018;ROCHA et al, 2019), ovelhas (HAN et al, 2018;ESCOBAR et al, 2019), caprinos (WILLIAMS et al, 1991), bovinos (LOBSINGER et al, 2010), asininos (NARDONI et al 2019 e cavalos (AGUILLAR et al, 1986;SOLANO-GALLEGO et al, 2003;BENASSI et al, 2018;MHADHBI;SASSI, 2019). (SOUZA et al, 2019;LIMEIRA, et al, 2019;DIOTALLEVI et al, 2020).…”

Detection of Leishmania infantum DNA in blood samples of horses (Equus caballus) and donkeys (Equus asinus) by PCR

“…Nevertheless, deficiencies regarding sensitivity (due to low antibody levels) and specificity (due to cross-reactions between Leishmania spp. and other trypanosomatids parasites) have also been reported 20 . In this sense, molecular techniques such as PCR followed by sequencing, help on diagnosis confirmation and identification of infectious Leishmania species in equids 14,17,18,20 .…”

“…infection in equids is generally based on parasitological, serological or molecular approaches 19,20 . The microscopic observation of the parasite within macrophages in tissue smears stained by Giemsa is considered the gold standard for the diagnosis 19,20 . However, the low sensitivity of direct microscopy is the main limitation of this technique 10 .…”

“…Serological tests, such as the immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT), immunoenzymatic assays (ELISA), and the direct agglutination test (DAT) are often used to detect anti-Leishmania spp. antibodies in equids 14,[17][18][19][20] . Nevertheless, deficiencies regarding sensitivity (due to low antibody levels) and specificity (due to cross-reactions between Leishmania spp.…”