Turk.J.Vet.Anim.Sci. 2007;31(1):73-74 ©TÜB‹TAK ShortCommunication SeroepidemiologyofLeishmaniaamongHealthyDogsinBulgaria IliaTSACHEV1,EmmanouilI.PAPADOGIANNAKIS2,*,VasilisKONTOS2,AndreiIVANOV1,BorislavaCHAKAROVA3, KrasimirSTOJANCHEV1,RaikoPESHEV4 1VeterinaryFaculty,TrakiaUniversity,StaraZagora-BULGARIA 2DepartmentofVeterinaryPublicHealth,NationalSchoolofPublicHealth,Athens-GREECE 3MedicalFaculty,TrakiaUniversity,StaraZagora-BULGARIA 4NationalVeterinaryDiagnosticandResearchInstitute,Sofia-BULGARIA Received:24.11.2005 Abstract: Aseroepidemiologicalstudyofcanineleishmaniasiswascarriedoutin220healthypetdogsfrom11differentregionsin Bulgariaallocatedin5regionsinsouthernBulgaria:Plovdiv(n=20),StaraZagora(n=20),Yambol(n=20),Burgas(n=20) , andBlagoevgrad(n=20),and6regionsinnorthernBulgaria:Varna(n=20),Silistra(n=20),Rousse(n=20),VelikoTarnov o (n=20),Pleven(n=20),andMontana(n=20).Theindirectfluorescentantibodytestwasused. Allbloodseraexaminedyieldednegativeresultsforleishmaniasis,thussuggestingthathealthyhouseholddogsinBulgariaare not infectedbyLeishmania. KeyWords: Dog,Leishmania,Bulgaria,IFAtest Canineleishmaniasis(CL)isaninfectiousdisease StaraZagora(n=20),Yambol(n=20),Burgas(n= causedbyprotozoabelongingtothegenus Leishmania 20),andBlagoevgrad(n=20).Forty-nineofthese and transmittedbybitesoffemalesandflies sampleswereobtainedfromfemaledogsand51were (Phlebotomus intheoldWorld).Dogsusuallypresent frommaledogs,allofvariousbreedsandages(mean withcutaneouslesionsalongwiththevisceralformofthe 3.8,SD0.39years).Theareasselectedincludedall disease(1,2).Theprevalencerateofcanineleishmaniasis regionswherehumanvisceralleishmaniasishadbeen inBulgariaremainstobeclarified.Thecountryissituated detected,whilesomeotherswereaddedinorderfora between41°and44°northlatitudes,thusbeingapart representativesampleofthewholecountrytobe ofthenaturalzonesofleishmaniasis,butalownumber investigated. ofhumanvisceralleishmaniasiscaseshavebeenrecorded duringthepastyearsandstrayanimalshavebeenfound Additionally,120bloodserawereobtainedfrom6 tobeoccasionallyinfected(3). regionsinnorthernBulgaria,namelyVarna(n=20), Silistra(n=20),Rousse(n=20),VelikoTarnovo(n= Thepurposeofthepresentstudywastoinvestigate 20),Pleven(n=20),andMontana(n=20).Fifty-oneof theseroprevalenceofLeishmaniaamonghealthypetdogs thesesampleswereobtainedfromfemaledogsand69 inBulgaria.ElevenregionsofBulgariawereincludedin thestudy:area 1:5regionsinsouthernBulgaria:central werefrommaledogs,allofvariousbreedsandages - Plovdiv,StaraZagoraandYambol;eastern–Burgas; (mean4.26,SD0.43years). western- Blagoevgrad;area 2:6regionsinnorthern Allbloodsampleswerecollectedfromhealthypet Bulgaria:central- Silistra,Rousse,VelikoTarnovo, dogsduringroutinehealthcarevisitsinveterinaryclinics Pleven;eastern–Varna;western- Montana. situatedintheaforementionedtowns.Bloodsamples Onehundredcaninebloodserawerecollectedfrom5 wereobtainedduringallseasonsbetween2002and regionsinsouthernBulgaria,namelyPlovdiv(n=20), 2004. *E-mail:[email protected] 73 SeroepidemiologyofLeishmaniaamongHealthyDogsinBulgaria Allserawereassayedbytheindirectfluorescence flyrepellentsregularlyimplementedbytheownersare antibody(IFA)test. quiteeffectiveandpreventsandflybiting.Another Thetestwasperformedaccordingtothe explanationcouldbethat P.papatasi and P.sergenti , manufacturer’sinstructions(BIOVETtest–France). whicharethemainsandflyspeciesinBulgaria(6),have Briefly,platesof10ready-to-usewellswithFluoleish ahighertropismtowardshumansthantowards wereusedalongwithFITC-labeledanti-dogIgGconjugate householddogs,asopposedto P.neglectus,whichisthe (SigmaF-4012,Germany)diluted1:25inPBS.Allblood mainsandflyspeciesencounteredinGreece(7). seraweredilutedinworkingtitersof1:100and1:200. Furthermore,seroprevalenceratesmaychangeovertime Eachseriesincludedbothpositiveandnegativecontrols. duetohumaninterventionalongwiththenatural Theplateswereexaminedunderfluorescentmicroscope, dynamicsof Leishmania transmission,andthereis throughslidecoverglasses.Titersof1:100andhigher evidencethatserologyaloneisanon-reliabletoolinthe wereconsideredpositive. investigationofcanineleishmaniasisepidemiology(8).On theotherhand,IFAtesthasbeenfoundtobevery Allserumsamplesscorednegativeforanti-leishmania sensitiveindetectingleishmaniaantibodiesinthecanine antibodies.GiventhelengthyincubationperiodofCL (9).Therefore,thepossibilityoffalsenegativeresults (monthstoyears),bloodsampleswerenotcollected seemstobeverylowanddoesnotsignificantlyinterfere duringarestrictedtimeperiodorseason. withtheresults.Inorderforthisimportantissuetobe Althoughtheroleofleishmania-infecteddogsinthe clarified,furtherresearchhastobedone,mainlyfocusing epidemiologyofhumanvisceralleishmaniasisisstill onthevectorbehaviorinBulgaria,itstropismand controversial,thedogisconsideredoneofthemain infectivityinparticularinareasofthecountryinwhich reservoirsoftheparasiteinnature(4).Inthe humanvisceralleishmaniasishasalreadybeendiagnosed. neighboringcountryGreece,thecaninepopulationofpet Sincenotallinfecteddogsdeveloppositiveantibodytiters animalshasbeenfoundtobeinfectedwith Leishmania (10),itispossiblethatsomeoftheexaminedanimalsin infantum withanincidencerangingbetween6.8%and thisstudyhadalatentinfectionalongwithadequate 48.4%(5). activationofthecellularimmunityandundetectablelevels Itwassurprisingtofindthatalldogsexaminedinthe ofantibodytitersagainstleishmania(11).Finally,dogs presentstudyhadnoantibodiesagainst Leishmania. livinginkennelsandwildanimalsshouldalsobeexamined Thus,alackofcontactwiththevector( Phlebotomus) sinceacertainspeciescouldbeanadditionalreservoirof couldbetheonlyexplanationforourresults.Sinceall leishmaniaandmoreaccessibletosandfliesthan animalsexaminedwerepetdogs,itispossiblethatsand householddogs. 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