Infectiousness of Asymptomatic Meriones shawi, Reservoir Host of Leishmania major.

ABSTRACT: Leishmaniases are neglected diseases caused by protozoans of the genus Leishmania that threaten millions of people worldwide. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by L. major is a typical zoonosis transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies and maintained in rodent reservoirs. The female sand fly was assumed to become infected by feeding on the skin lesion of the host, and the relative contribution of asymptomatic individuals to disease transmission was unknown. In this study, we infected 32 Meriones shawi, North African reservoirs, with a natural dose of L. major obtained from the gut of infected sand flies. Skin manifestations appeared in 90% of the animals, and xenodiagnosis with the proven vector Phlebotomus papatasi showed transmissibility in 67% of the ro

SUBMITTER: Sadlova J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10143307 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature