Toward Diagnosing
            <i>Leishmania infantum</i>
            Infection in Asymptomatic Dogs in an Area Where Leishmaniasis Is Endemic

Otranto, Domenico; Paradies, Paola; Caprariis, Donato De; Stanneck, Dorothee; Testini, Gabriella; Grimm, Felix; Deplazes, Peter; Capelli, Gioia

doi:10.1128/cvi.00268-08

Cited by 82 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 35 publications

(44 reference statements)

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“…In contrast, in infected asymptomatic dogs, the lymph node showed a much lower positivity rate of 5% in dogs without clinical signs and 71% relative performance in dogs categorized as infected (35). These results suggest that LN-CE should not be considered among the first-line tests for CanL diagnosis in asymptomatic dogs, because of poor aspiration performance in nonenlarged lymph nodes and the intrinsic low parasite burden resulting from an effective immune response in most of the asymptomatic animals (33).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Diagnostic Value of Conjunctival Swab Sampling Associated with Nested PCR for Different Categories of Dogs Naturally Exposed to Leishmania infantum Infection

et al. 2012

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The objective of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a noninvasive assay, conjunctival swab (CS) nested-PCR (n-PCR), for diagnosing canine leishmaniasis (CanL) in different stages of infection in comparison to the performance of the indirect immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT), lymph node microscopy, and buffy coat n-PCR. To this end, we performed a cross-sectional survey among 253 nonselected dogs in areas of endemicity in central Italy. We also performed a longitudinal study of CS n-PCR among 20 sick dogs undergoing antileishmanial treatment. In the first study, among the 72 animals that were positive by at least one test (28.45%), CS n-PCR showed the best relative performance (76.38%), with a high concordance in comparison to standard IFAT serology ( ‫؍‬ 0.75). The highest positivity rates using CS n-PCR were found in asymptomatic infected dogs (84.2%) and sick dogs (77.8%); however, the sensitivity of the assay was not associated with the presence of clinical signs. In the follow-up study on treated sick dogs, CS n-PCR was the most sensitive assay, with promising prognostic value for relapses. The univariate analysis of risk factors for CanL based on CS n-PCR findings showed a significant correlation with age (P ‫؍‬ 0.012), breed size (P ‫؍‬ 0.026), habitat (P ‫؍‬ 4.9 ؋ 10 ؊4 ), and previous therapy (P ‫؍‬ 0.014). Overall, the results indicated that CS n-PCR was the most sensitive assay of the less invasive diagnostic methods and could represent a good option for the early and simple diagnosis of CanL infection in asymptomatic animals and for monitoring relapses in drug-treated dogs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Diagnostic Value of Conjunctival Swab Sampling Associated with Nested PCR for Different Categories of Dogs Naturally Exposed to Leishmania infantum Infection

et al. 2012

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“…The drawbacks of PCR are lack of standardization of the different protocols used among laboratories, possibility of contamination, and the fact that it does not necessarily indicate infection with live Leishmania (1,13,18,30). Serologic assays may yield false-positive results due to cross-reactivity with sera of dogs infected with L. braziliensis, T. cruzi, T. caninum, and Ehrlichia canis (15,(31)(32)(33). Also, they do not necessarily indicate current infection (10) and do not differentiate positive results produced by natural infection from those induced by vaccines (17).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity and Specificity of In Situ Hybridization for Diagnosis of Cutaneous Infection by Leishmania infantum in Dogs

et al. 2013

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An accurate diagnosis of infection by Leishmania infantum in dogs is fundamental for the control of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Histopathology (HP) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) are frequently used for the histological diagnosis of L. infantum in dogs but have shown limited accuracy. To improve the sensitivity and specificity of the histological diagnosis of VL, we evaluated automated in situ hybridization (ISH) using a generic probe for Leishmania and a specific probe for L. infantum in surgical skin biopsy specimens of dogs. The ISH results were compared with those of HP and IHC, using parasitological culture as the reference standard. Skin samples from 51 dogs with cutaneous L. infantum infection and 51 noninfected dogs were randomly selected from samples of dogs from various cities in Brazil where canine VL is endemic. These samples were processed for parasitological culture, HP, IHC, and ISH using both probes. The sensitivities of ISH using the specific probe, ISH using the generic probe, IHC, and HP were, respectively, 74.5%, 70.6%, 69.5%, and 57.6%. The specificity of both ISH probes tested was 100%, and there was no cross-hybridization of the generic and specific probes with selected pathogenic fungi and protozoa. The specific probe discriminated L. infantum from the other species of Leishmania that infect dogs in the New World. ISH is highly sensitive and specific for the diagnosis of L. infantum in histologic samples of skin from infected dogs and can be used on routine biopsy material to make a diagnosis of leishmaniasis.

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“…Whereas the LRP antigen mixture detected all the asymptomatic cases (100%), the assay with the SLA preparation detected only about 19% of the cases. Although the reactivity against LRP needs further confirmation by use of a larger number of serum samples from asymptomatic dogs, the use of LRP-based ELISAs in combination with other proposed parasitological, cellular, and serological tests may be useful for the detection of asymptomatic dogs in areas of endemicity (11,38). In addition, we are analyzing the correlation between seroreactivity against LRP and the transmission of the parasites to the insect vector, as well as the clinical evolution of LRPpositive asymptomatic dogs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specific Serodiagnosis of Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis Using Leishmania Species Ribosomal Protein Extracts

Coelho

Ramírez

Costa³

et al. 2009

Clin Vaccine Immunol

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In the present work, we have analyzed the antigenicity of Leishmania species ribosomal proteins (LRPs). To accomplish this, Leishmania infantum ribosomes were biochemically purified from promastigote cytosolic extracts, and their reactivities were analyzed by using the sera from dogs naturally infected with L. infantum. Since antibodies reacting against different ribosomal proteins were observed in all the serum samples obtained from dogs with symptomatic visceral leishmaniasis tested, we have analyzed the potential usefulness of the LRP extracts in the development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the serodiagnosis of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) in an area of Brazil where visceral leishmaniasis is endemic due to infection by Leishmania chagasi. A comparative ELISA with crude soluble Leishmania chagasi antigen (SLA) and L. infantum LRPs was performed. LRP-and SLA-based ELISAs gave similar sensitivities for the diagnosis of symptomatic CVL, but the LRP extract provided a very high sensitivity for the detection of oligosymptomatic and asymptomatic dogs. In addition, an LRP-based ELISA showed a higher specificity when the sera from dogs harboring other infections were included in the analysis. The LRP antigen displayed no cross-reactivity with sera from dogs that had any of the other diseases tested, notably, Chagas' disease. Our findings suggest that LRPs are a potential tool for the diagnosis of CVL and will be particularly useful for the diagnosis of asymptomatic CVL.

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Toward Diagnosing Leishmania infantum Infection in Asymptomatic Dogs in an Area Where Leishmaniasis Is Endemic

Cited by 82 publications

References 35 publications

Diagnostic Value of Conjunctival Swab Sampling Associated with Nested PCR for Different Categories of Dogs Naturally Exposed to Leishmania infantum Infection

Diagnostic Value of Conjunctival Swab Sampling Associated with Nested PCR for Different Categories of Dogs Naturally Exposed to Leishmania infantum Infection

Sensitivity and Specificity of In Situ Hybridization for Diagnosis of Cutaneous Infection by Leishmania infantum in Dogs

Specific Serodiagnosis of Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis Using Leishmania Species Ribosomal Protein Extracts

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