1. The first record in the Americas of an autochthonous case of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum chagasi in a domestic cat (Felix catus) from Cotia County, São Paulo State, Brazil
- Author
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Lucile Maria Floeter-Winter, Jeffrey Jon Shaw, Sandra Regina Nicoletti D'Auria, Maria Cecília Gibrail de Oliveira Camargo, Marı́lia Russi de Carvalho, Ricardo Andrade Zampieri, Elisa San Martin Mouriz Savani, and Marcos Gonzaga dos Santos
- Subjects
Male ,Veterinary medicine ,Antibodies, Protozoan ,Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous ,Spleen ,Biology ,Cat Diseases ,Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Serology ,Fatal Outcome ,Cutaneous leishmaniasis ,parasitic diseases ,medicine ,Parasite hosting ,Animals ,Leishmania infantum ,Amastigote ,Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect ,General Veterinary ,Leishmaniasis ,General Medicine ,DNA, Protozoan ,medicine.disease ,Leishmania ,biology.organism_classification ,Virology ,Visceral leishmaniasis ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,RNA, Ribosomal ,Cats ,Parasitology ,Brazil - Abstract
A case of feline cutaneous leishmaniasis is reported in a domestic cat (Felis catus) as an apparently natural infection in a non-endemic area. Amastigotes were seem in smears of a nodular lesion on the cat's nose. No parasite could be seen in cytological preparations of liver or spleen but DNA obtained from a sample of the spleen produced the expected fragment in a Leishmania specific rDNA based PCR assay. The PCR product, a 520 bp fragment, was sequenced and the nucleotide sequence was identical to that of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum chagasi. These results are surprising since no autochthonous human or canine cases of visceral leishmaniasis have ever been reported from this region. This case suggests that natural transmission of this disease is occurring in this area, and that cats could act as a reservoir of L. (L.) infantum chagasi.
- Published
- 2003