Infectiousness in a Cohort of Brazilian Dogs: Why Culling Fails to Control Visceral Leishmaniasis in Areas of High Transmission

Courtenay, O., Quinnell, R.J., Garcez, L.M., Shaw, J.J. and Dye, C. (2002) Infectiousness in a Cohort of Brazilian Dogs: Why Culling Fails to Control Visceral Leishmaniasis in Areas of High Transmission. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 186 (9). pp. 1314-1320. ISSN 0022-1899

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Abstract

The elimination of seropositive dogs in Brazil has been used to control zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis but with little success. To elucidate the reasons for this, the infectiousness of 50 sentinel dogs exposed to natural Leishmania chagasi infection was assessed through time by xenodiagnosis with the sandfly vector, Lutzomyia longipalpis. Eighteen (43%) of 42 infected dogs became infectious after a median of 333 days in the field (105 days after seroconversion). Seven highly infectious dogs (17%) accounted for >80% of sandfly infections. There were positive correlations between infectiousness and anti-Leishmania immunoglobulin G, parasite detection by polymerase chain reaction, and clinical disease (logistic regression, r2 = 0.080.18). The sensitivity of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect currently infectious dogs was high (96%) but lower in the latent period (<63%), and specificity was low (24%). Mathematical modeling suggests that culling programs fail because of high incidence of infection and infectiousness, the insensitivity of the diagnostic test to detect infectious dogs, and time delays between diagnosis and culling.

Item Type:	Article
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2002 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Academic Units:	The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology (Leeds)
Depositing User:	Repository Officer
Date Deposited:	26 Jun 2006
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2013 17:02
Published Version:	http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JID/journal/issue...
Status:	Published
Publisher:	The University of Chicago
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/1377

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