Page 219 - Resúmen - XXV Congreso Latinoamericano de Parasitología - FLAP

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Autochthonous Leishmania spp. infection in Didelphis albiventris

(Marsupialia: Didelphidae) in Pelotas and Capão do Leão cities, Southern

Brazil.

Pegoraro de Macedo, Marcia Raquel; de Aguiar Lopes Soares, Tatiele; Scheer, Simone;
Muller, Gertrud

Universidade Federal de Pelotas

Leishmania spp. are flagellated protozoans that have over 30 species that have the potential to cause
cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. About 70 species of mammals in the world, including humans, can
be considered vertebrate hosts of Leishmania spp. Didelphidae family are considered important wild
reservoirs for the maintenance of the pathogen in the environment. Thus, the aim of this study was to search
through molecular diagnosis, Leishmania spp. in Didelphis albiventris, in the southern Rio Grande do Sul
(RS), Brazil. Fifty specimens of D. albiventris were collected from urban and peri-urban regions of Pelotas
and Capão do Leão cities, in RS. Genomic DNA was extracted from the spleen, liver and adanal glands.
The target region for diagnosis was the small subunit 18SrRNA gene, which was PCR amplified, sequenced
and compared to sequences deposited at Genbank. The differentiation among Leishmania complexes was
performed by maximum likelihood and neighbor-joining analysis with 1,000 bootstrap replications. The
prevalence of Leishmania spp. was 34%. The identity of the sequences found was 98.24% to 100% with
species that cause cutaneous leishmaniasis: L. brasiliensis, L. guianensis and L. panamensis. The
similarity analysis showed a clear differentiation between the strains causing cutaneous and visceral
leishmaniasis, and the strains isolated in this study were grouped with those causing cutaneous
leishmaniasis. However, species identification was not possible because the target DNA region is
conserved, with low mutation rates. The geographic region where this research was performed is still
considered free of leishmaniasis and in the cities where the study was conducted, there are no reports of
autochthonous cases of the disease, and no reports of sand fly vectors. Registration of wild animals
with Leishmania spp. should act as an indicator for authorities and researchers to plan disease surveillance
and monitoring measures in the region.

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