4 4 4
Revista da Sociedade Br asileir a de Medicina Tr opical 3 8 ( 5 ) :4 4 4 -4 4 5 , set-out, 2 0 0 5
COMUNICAÇÃO/COMMUNICATION
Epidemiologic surveillance of canine visceral leishmaniasis
in the municipality of Recife, Pernambuco
Vigilância epidemiológica de leishmaniose visceral canina
no município de Recife, Pernambuco
Filipe Dantas-Torres
1, Maria Aparecida da Gloria Faustino
2,
Osmar Cavalcanti da Costa Lima
3and Ridelane Veiga Acioli
3ABSTRACT
Th i s p a p e r d e sc ri b e s a n e p i d e m i o lo gi c i n ve sti ga ti o n c a rri e d o u t i n Im b i ri b e i ra d i stri c t, w h e re a c a n i n e vi sc e ra l le i sh m a n i a si s c a se wa s re c o rd e d . De sp i te th e a b se n c e o f se ro p o si ti ve d o gs a n d sa n d f li e s, th e se f i n d i n gs a re n o t su f f i c i e n t to d i sc a rd th e o c c u rre n c e o f a zo o n o ti c c yc le o f vi sc e ra l le i sh m a n i a si s i n Re c i f e .
Ke y-words: Vi sc e ra l le i sh m a n i a si s. Ep i d e m i o lo gy. Pe rn a m b u c o . Bra zi l.
RESUMO
Este a rti go d e sc re ve u m a i n ve sti ga ç ã o e p i d e m i o ló gi c a re a li za d a n o b a i rro d a Im b i ri b e i ra , o n d e f o ra re gi stra d o u m c a so d e le i sh m a n i o se vi sc e ra l c a n i n a . Ap e sa r d a a u sê n c i a d e c ã e s so ro p o si ti vo s e d e f le b o to m í n e o s, e sse s a c h a d o s n ã o sã o su f i c i e n te s p a ra d e sc a rta r a o c o rrê n c i a d o c i c lo zo o n ó ti c o d a le i sh m a n i o se vi sc e ra l e m Re c i f e .
Pal avr as-chave s: Le i sh m a n i o se vi sc e ra l. Ep i d e m i o lo gi a . Pe rn a m b u c o . Bra si l.
1 . Ce ntr o de Pe sq uisas Agge u Magalhãe s, Fundaç ão Oswaldo Cr uz, Re c ife , PE e B o lsista de Me str ado do CNPq . 2 . Unive r sidade Fe de r al Rur al de Pe r namb uc o , Re c ife PE. 3 . Ce ntr o de Vigilânc ia Amb ie ntal do Re c ife , Re c ife , PE.
Addr e ss to: Dr. Filipe Dantas To r r e s. CPq Am/FIOCRUZ, Campus UFPE, Av Mo r ae s Re go s/n, 5 0 6 7 0 - 4 2 0 Re c ife , PE, B r asil. Te l: 5 5 8 1 2 1 0 1 - 2 5 6 2 , Fax: 5 5 8 1 3 4 5 3 - 2 4 4 9 .
e - mail: fdt@ c pq am. fio c r uz. b r Re c e b ido par a pub lic aç ão e m 2 8 /7 /2 0 0 4 Ac e ito e m 6 /6 /2 0 0 5
Histo r ic ally, visc er al leishmaniasis has been c o nsider ed endemic in Pernambuc o State. However, some munic ipalities,
e . g. Re c ife , ar e c o nside r e d fr e e o f auto c htho no us c ase s4.
Nevertheless, in 2 0 0 2 , a dog from the distric t of Imbiribeira was
observed with clinical signs of visceral leishmaniasis and infection by Le ishm a nia amastigotes was c onfirmed. This c ase of c anine
visc eral leishmaniasis was reported as autoc hthonous of Rec ife3.
Consequently, we c onduc ted an epidemiologic investigation in Imbiribeira to determine the presenc e of seropositive dogs or
phlebotomine sand flies. The objec tive of this paper was to
present the results of this investigation.
As r e c o mme nde d b y the B r azilian Ministr y o f He alth6,
serologic sc reening for anti-Le ishm a nia-spec ific antibodies was
performed in all dogs found in a radius of 2 0 0 meters from the house where the previous c ase was notified. From Oc tober 2 0 0 3
to February 2 0 0 4 , total blood of 8 5 dogs ( domestic and stray
dogs) of various breeds, ages and both sexes, was c ollec ted in
filter paper and proc essed by indirec t immunofluoresc enc e assay ( IFA) at the Ce ntr al Lab o r ato r y o f the He alth Se c r e tar y o f
Pernambuc o State. A c ut-off point of 1 :4 0 was adopted.
During the last four months of the study, CDC light traps were set
one meter above the ground, inside and outside of the houses, from 6 :0 0 pm to 6 :0 0 am. Each week, six houses were randomly selected at random and two collections were performed for each house, totaling thirty 1 2 -hour c ollec tions. The traps were sent to the
Environmental Surveillance Center of Recife, for processing and identification of the captured specimens, using appropriate keys2 7.
The r e we r e no r e ac tive b lo o d sample s, whic h c o nfir ms the ab se nc e o f antib o die s against Le i sh m a n i a par asite s in the sc reened do gs. Likewise, no infec ted sand flies were fo und
and all flie s c o lle c te d b e lo nge d to the ge nus Cu le x o r Ae d e s.
Prior to this study, a c anine serologic survey had been c arried out in several distric ts of Rec ife. The authors analyzed sera from
6 2 3 dogs ( both domestic and stray dogs) but only two stray dogs presented titer values higher than 1 :4 0 in IFA5. However, it is a
well-known fac t that the use of IFA may dec rease the effec tiveness of Brazilian visc eral leishmaniasis c ontrol programs by failure
to sac rific e false-negative dogs1.
I n R e c i fe , th e r e i s o n l y o n e de s c r i p ti o n o f a m a l e
4 4 5
Da nta s- To r r e s F e t al
twe nty- e ight ye ar s ago7. Due to this fac t, Re c ife has b e e n
c lassifie d as no t r e c e ptive , b ut vulne r ab le due to the fr e q ue nt m igr atio n o f do gs fr o m e nzo o tic ar e as. He nc e , the c ase o f
c a n i n e vi s c e r a l l e i s h m a n i a s i s p r e vi o u s l y d e s c r i b e d i n
I m b ir ib e ir a is pr o b a b ly a c a s e im po r te d fr o m a n o th e r
dis tr ic t a n d po s s ib ly e ve n fr o m a n o th e r m un ic ipa lity o f Pe r nam b uc o .
In fac t, our results point to the nonexistenc e of Le ishm a nia
(Le ishm a n ia) c ha ga si ( = L. in fa n tu m) in the studied region,
though these findings are not suffic ient to definitively exc lude
this po ssib ility. Thus, e pide m io lo gic sur ve illanc e m ust b e maintained. In the same manner, further entomologic studies
into the loc al phlebotomine fauna should be enc ouraged in
order to identify any c hange in the loc al epidemiology, whic h
may be seen as a major c hallenge for public health authorities in Rec ife.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the r e fe r e e fo r his sugge stio ns and he lpful
c o mme nts.
REFERENCES
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