Detecting antibodies to Leishmania infantum in horses from areas with different epizooticity levels of canine leishmaniosis and a retrospective revision of Italian data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Leishmania infantum is a vector-borne pathogen endemic in countries in the Mediterranean basin, including Italy. Dogs act as the primary reservoir for this parasite, but other animal species may also be infected. Low-to-moderate seroprevalence levels of infection have been reported in apparent healthy equine populations in southern Europe, reinforcing the importance of exploring those species, including horses, that act as a food source for vectors and may thus participate in the epizoological scenario of canine leishmaniosis (CanL) and zoonotic visceral leishmaniosis (ZVL). Since little is known regarding the exposure to L. infantum in horses in Italy, we assessed the seroprevalence in healthy equine populations from different CanL endemic areas.

Methods

The surv

SUBMITTER: Gazzonis AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7583181 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature