Leishmaniasis alarm in Europe. The disease affects both animals and humanscausing thousands of infections every year, and is carried by a parasite called Leishmania infantum, the focus of several studies. In Spain, research by the University of Cordoba, in collaboration with the SaBio Group of the IREC, has highlighted how the parasite proliferates not only on dogs, but in particular on rabbits and haresanimals that often come into close contact with humans.
The search results
For two years, the researchers conducted an extensive sampling campaign that included dogs, lagomorphs (the family of mammals that includes rabbits and hares) and humansas well as an entomological analysis of sandflies, the insect that carries the leishmaniasis parasite. The results, published in the journal Pathogens and Global Health, show a surprising (and alarming) result: of all the wild lagomorphs analyzed, the 100% were infected from leishmaniasis. Among dogs, however, 73.2% carried the parasite with them, while in humans the percentage was 6.2%.
The entomological analysis was equally revealing: over 25% of the sandflies caught in the area were infected. The predominant species, Phlebotomus perniciosus, is considered the main vector of the disease. Furthermore, one of the transmission foci was located near a small game hunting reserve adjacent to the city of Cordoba, where the density of wild lagomorphs is particularly high.
This finding strengthens the hypothesis that these animals act as natural reservoirs. It is precisely the wild environment that acts as a ‘refuge’ for the parasite, which then leads to the circulation of the disease.
How to prevent the disease
The authors of the study underlined the need to integrate the concept of ‘One Health’that is, recognizing the connection and interdependence between human health, animal health and the environment that hosts them. “There wildlife surveillance it is as important as vector control and the protection of domestic animals”, underlines the IREC. In short, urgent measures are needed, including vaccinations and dog repellents, public awareness campaigns and systematic monitoring of sandfly populations.
Likewise, they point out that a thorough understanding of the role played by nature reserves can make the difference between containing an epidemic or allowing it to become a chronic public health problem.
What is leishmaniasis
The Istituto Superiore di Sanità provides a definition of leishmaniasis: “The term leishmaniasis means a group of parasitic diseases transmitted by insectsthe phlebotomists. Despite their global emergency, leishmaniasis is considered ‘neglected’ for several reasons, not least the complexity of the pathology, which involves 21 species of Leishmania pathogenic for humans with a wide variety of clinical forms”.
“The disease can only be transmitted by bite of a vector insect that previously became infected by biting an animal (zoonoses) or an infected person. More rarely, the disease is transmitted from man to man through blood (transfusions or through the passage of syringes for those who use drugs intravenously) or following an organ transplant”, explained the ISS, which then listed four forms in which leishmaniasis can occur.
“leishmaniasis visceral (LV), the most serious, a chronic form that involves various internal organs and is fatal if not diagnosed and treated adequately; leishmaniasis cutaneous (LC), manifests itself with lesions on the skin and often heals on its own without treatment; leishmaniasis mucocutaneousaffects the mucous membranes of the nose and oral cavity; spontaneous healing is very slow and leaves disfiguring scars, sometimes it can cause death from associated secondary infections; leishmaniasis diffuse skinsimilar to L. cutanea, but requires pharmacological treatment and can still recur (relapse)”.
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