Livestock and rodents within an endemic focus of Visceral Leishmaniasis are not reservoir hosts for Leishmania donovani.

ABSTRACT: Leishmaniasis on the Indian subcontinent is thought to have an anthroponotic transmission cycle. There is no direct evidence that a mammalian host other than humans can be infected with Leishmania donovani and transmit infection to the sand fly vector. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of sand fly feeding on other domestic species and provide clinical evidence regarding possible non-human reservoirs through experimental sand fly feeding on cows, water buffalo goats and rodents. We performed xenodiagnosis using colonized Phlebotomus argentipes sand flies to feed on animals residing in villages with active Leishmania transmission based on current human cases. Xenodiagnoses on mammals within the endemic area were performed and blood-fed flies were analyzed for the presen

SUBMITTER: Kushwaha AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9624431 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature