Epidemiological survey of sheep as potential hosts for Leishmania in China

BMC Veterinary Research

Can-Jun Zheng¹  Kaisar Kiyim²  Ying Wang³  Shuai Han³  Wei-Ping Wu³  Li-Ying Wang³  Kai Chen³  Jun Zhao⁴  Israyil Osman⁴  Yan-Yan Hou⁴ 

[1] Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention;Kashgar Prefectural Center for Disease Control and Prevention;National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, National Center for International Research on Tropical Diseases, Ministry of Science and Technology;Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention;

关键词: Leishmania;    Visceral leishmaniasis;    China;    Phylogenetics;    Sheep;    Reservoir;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12917-018-1701-z

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Background Leishmania parasites cause visceral leishmaniasis (VL), an important infectious disease that is endemic to large parts of the world and often leads to epidemics. Sand flies are the primary transmission vector for the parasite in endemic regions. We hypothesized that sheep might serve as an overlooked reservoir for Leishmania transmission to humans due to the asymptomatic nature of infection in many species. As a preliminary test of this hypothesis, the aim of the present study was to investigate sheep in an area of China that is endemic for the desert sub-type of zoonotic VL and establish if they are potential carriers of Leishmania. Results Sheep tissue samples were collected from abattoirs in VL endemic areas of Jiashi County, China during the non-transmission season. rK39 immunochromatographic tests were performed to detect the presence of the parasite in blood samples. In addition, DNA was extracted from the blood, and used for detection of the Leishmania-specific internal transcribed spacer-1 (ITS-1) genomic region using a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach. PCR products were further analyzed to identify restriction fragment-length polymorphism patterns and representative sequences of each pattern were selected for phylogenetic analysis. The rK-39 and nested PCR data indicated positive detection rates for Leishmania in sheep of 26.32 and 54.39%, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that all of the samples belonged to the species L. infantum and were closely related to strains isolated from human infections in the same area. Conclusions Sheep could be a potential host for Leishmania in VL endemic areas in China and may be an overlooked reservoir of human VL transmission in this region. To further confirm livestock as a potential host, further verification is required using a sand fly biting experiment.

【 授权许可】

Unknown