Leishmaniosis caused by Leishmania infantum in ferrets: Update review

Abstract

Leishmaniosis in domestic ferrets ( Mustela putorius furo ) is a disease caused by Leishmania infantum , a parasite transmitted through the bite of an infected female phlebotomine sand fly. Among vertebrates, the dog is the primary domestic reservoir of the parasite; however, other domestic animals can be implicated such as cats. The first description of a clinical case of leishmaniosis in domestic ferrets was reported recently. As a result, new knowledge has been published including empirically based treatment protocols, confirmatory techniques to detect the presence of the parasite infection and seasonal variation in the antibodies against Leishmania in apparently healthy domestic ferrets. The most common clinical signs observed are enlargement of peripheral lymph nodes and skin lesions such as papular and/or ulcerative dermatitis. Additionally, the most frequent laboratory alterations seen are hyperproteinaemia with hyperglobulinaemia and biochemical analytes alterations depending on the affected tissue. Two different therapeutic protocols have been described to treat domestic ferrets with leishmaniosis: meglumine antimoniate plus allopurinol protocol or miltefosine plus allopurinol protocol. These treatment protocols seemed to be able to control the Leishmania infection, although the presence of xanthinuria could be detected. The susceptibility of domestic ferrets to Leishmania infantum , the clinical picture, treatment of infected animals and prevention are poorly understood, due to the scarcity of recent description in the literature. Different proposed diagnostic algorithms have been included for domestic ferrets with suspected leishmaniosis, clinically healthy domestic ferrets and animals as blood donors. In this sense, the present review provides updated data on scientific knowledge of leishmaniosis in ferrets.

Nodular pyogranulomatous panniculitis due to Leishmania infantum infection in a domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo)

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of Leishmania infantum associated nodular pyogranulomatous panniculitis in domestic ferrets. In general, seropositive ferrets do not present associated clinic signs or lesions (Villanueva-Saz et al 2021 ; Alcover et al 2022 ). However, a pyogranulomatous dermatitis has been described recently in two ferrets infected naturally with L. infantum (Giner et al 2020a , 2021 ).…”

“…In ferrets, there is a limited clinicopathological information related to leishmaniosis (Villanueva-Saz et al 2021 ). Only, two cases described an erythematous-papular and ulcerative lesion in an ear pinna and on the lower lip margin, respectively (Giner et al 2020a , 2021 ).…”

First epidemiological survey of Leishmania infantum in the domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo) in a canine leishmaniosis endemic area using serology and PCR

“…The detection and quantification of Leishmania kDNA was carried out by amplification of kinetoplast minicircle DNA sequences by qPCR [ 13 ]. Each amplification was performed in triplicate in 10 μl of reaction mixture containing 1× iTaq Supermix with ROX (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA), 15 pmol of direct primer Leim1 (5′-CTT TTC TGG TCC TCC GGG TAG G-3′), 15 pmol of reverse primer Leim2 (5′- CCA CCC GGC CCT ATT TTA CAC CAA-3′), 50 pmol of the labeled TaqMan probe Leim3 (5′- FAM-TTT TCG CAG AAC GCC CCT ACC CGC TAMRA-3′), and 2.5 μl of sample DNA.…”

“…The most common clinical signs of leishmaniosis described in ferrets (Mustela putorius furo ) are peripheral lymphadenomegaly and cutaneous lesions, including papular and ulcerative dermatitis [ 13 ]. Frequently observed clinicopathological abnormalities are hyperproteinemia with hyperglobulinemia and polyclonal gammopathy [ 13 ]. In ferrets, clinical data for leishmaniosis are still very scarce.…”

“…Epidemiological studies of canine and feline leishmaniosis have combined serological and molecular methods for maximum diagnostic efficiency, an approach that could also be applied to ferrets [ 3 , 16 – 19 ]. However, serological methods need to be adapted and validated for each species to avoid negative results in seropositive animals [ 13 ].…”