Molecular characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania spp. coinfection in mammals of Venezuelan coendemic areas

Development of an Amplicon-Based Next-Generation Sequencing Protocol to Identify Leishmania Species and Other Trypanosomatids in Leishmaniasis Endemic Areas

“…This was not surprising given that all these species have previously been associated with canine Leishmaniasis throughout different countries of South America ( 48 – 50 ). Despite the fact that canine leishmaniasis involving mixed species has been reported in both Brazil ( 51 , 52 ) and Venezuela ( 11 ), to date, no cases of coinfection have been documented in Colombia. Therefore, this is the first report of Leishmania polyparasitism in naturally infected dogs from Colombia, showing triple-infection events.…”

“…More interestingly, the presence of Leishmania guyanensis and Leishmania panamensis hybrid strains causing both CL and MCL has been described in Ecuador ( 10 ). Furthermore, studies from Brazil have revealed the presence of double and triple infections caused by several Leishmania species, both in mammals and humans ( 11 , 12 ).…”

“…Likewise, natural coinfections in sand fly vectors and reservoirs have been reported, as in the case of dogs ( Canis lupus familiaris ) and rodents ( Mus musculus and Rattus rattus ) infected with L. braziliensis and L. infantum from Brazil ( 13 ) or the case of naturally occurring Leishmania and Trypanosoma coinfections observed across different genera of sand flies and mammals ( 11 , 14 , 15 ). Despite the well-documented occurrence of coinfection events among mammalian reservoirs and sand fly vectors in the Americas, the significance of this phenomenon remains largely unexplored.…”

“…To date, the most common molecular approaches to detect coinfection events in both Leishmania -infected vectors and mammalian reservoirs are PCR targeting the kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) ( 6 ) or small-subunit (SSU) rRNA gene ( 13 ), PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) ( 11 , 16 ), and species-specific PCR. Although fast and sensitive, these methods are often expensive and time consuming, particularly when screening a large number of specimens.…”

Surveillance and genotype characterization of zoonotic trypanosomatidae in Didelphis marsupialis in two endemic sites of rural Panama

“…Leishmania infections have been detected in D. marsupialis in Brazil ( Cabrera et al, 2003 ; Schallig et al, 2007 ), and Colombia ( Corredor et al, 1989 ; Travi et al, 1994 , 1998a ). L. mexicana, L. infantum, and L. chagasi infections, including co-infections with T. cruzi , have been detected in D. marsupialis in Venezuela ( Viettri et al, 2018 , 2019 ). Arguably, the role of D. marsupialis in Leishmania transmission is less well understood compared to its role in T. cruzi transmission throughout its range.…”