Anais do Congresso Paranaense de Microbiologia
IV Congress of Microbiology in Paraná

Leishmaniasis is a serious parasitic and zoonotic disease, already described in at least 88 countries around the world, caused by a protozoa of the genus Leishmania, and transmitted by arthropod of the genera Phlebotomus and Lutzomyia. Dogs are reservoirs of the disease and the high prevalence of canine infection is associated with a high risk of disease in humans. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Leishmania spp. in dogs from a public shelter [Parque Francisco de Assis (PFA)] localized in Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil. A cross-sectional study was conducted with collection of 324 blood samples from all (census) dogs from the shelter between July and August 2019. Before collecting samples, all dogs were identified (microchip) and clinically examined. DNA extraction was performed from whole blood using the PureLink® Genomic DNA kit (Qiagen, USA). For molecular detection of Leishmania spp., a nested-PCR was performed using primers for the SSUrRNA gene. Complete blood count was also performed from all blood samples. Among 324 dogs tested, 18 were positive for Leishmania spp., resulting in a prevalence of 5.56% [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.33 to 8.64%]. Of the positive animals, 11 were female and 7 male, and 15 adult and 3 elderly animals. The low prevalence observed among dogs in the PFA shelter may be a result of municipal environmental surveillance interventions in the kennel, or even due to the low sensitivity of PCR from whole blood samples. The decrease in the number of red blood cells in the blood count was significantly (P = 0.01533) associated with the presence of the parasite in the blood of dogs, with an Odds Ratio (OR) of 5.54 (95% CI: 1.18 to 21, 06), which shows that the presence of reduced red blood cells is a risk factor for leishmaniasis in the study population. Similarly, dogs that had decreased hemoglobin exhibited a significantly higher risk of being positive (P = 0.02118), with an OR of 4.33 (95% CI: 1.05 to 16.16) among the study animals. The results suggest a low prevalence of leishmaniasis among dogs from the PFA shelter in the municipality of Lavras, Minas Gerais.