{"title":"Seroprevalence, clinical investigation, and risk factors associated with <i>Leishmania</i> infection in dogs from Algeria.","authors":"Amel Djerbouh, Nassim Ouchene, Mustapha Djoudi, Assia Beneldjouzi, Meriem Aissi, Zoubir Harrat, Omar Salhi, Nadjet Amina Khelifi Touhami","doi":"10.1007/s12639-025-01801-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Mediterranean region is recognized as one of the most impacted areas of which Algeria has been traditionally acknowledged as endemic for leishmaniasis. This study carried out in Algiers, north-central Algeria, aimed to carry outa serological and clinical investigation of canine leishmaniasis (CanL) invarious dog breeds, outlining the risk factors associated with <i>Leishmania</i> infection. Blood samples, along with clinical data and general information, were gathered and examined from 305 dogs, of which 210 were males and 95 were females. Numerous breeds made up this sample, including the local breed, German shepherd, pitbul, foxhound, among others. Anti-<i>Leishmania</i> IgG antibodies were detected using IFAT and samples were scored as positive at a cut-off dilution of ≥ 1:80. Anti-<i>Leishmania</i> antibodies were detected (95% CI 15.21-24.13%) of dogs of which 6.48% were clinically asymptomatic. Factors such as age, breed, and presence of clinical signs of leishmaniasis were found to significantly impact the prevalence of <i>Leishmania</i> infection, while gender did not show a significant association. The highest rates of infection were found in dogs aged 4-6 years (33.33%) and over 6 years (34.62%) (<i>p</i> < 0.001). In relation to breed, local dogs showed a significantly lower infection rate compared to other breeds (<i>p</i> < 0.01). All dogs that were clinically diagnosed with leishmaniasis tested seropositive and the predominant clinical sign noted were adenopathy (81.40%), weight loss (67.44%) and skin ulcers (48.84%). Adenopathy was significantly more frequent (4.38-11.67 times) compared to the other symptoms (<i>p</i> < 0.001). The isoenzymatic characterization of30seropositive dogs revealed the presence of the zymodeme <i>L. infantum</i> MON-1. The current study confirmed the endemic status of CanLin Algeriaand identified several factors that may influence the seropositivity in the study region.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12639-025-01801-7.</p>","PeriodicalId":16664,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Parasitic Diseases","volume":"49 3","pages":"774-780"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12399483/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Parasitic Diseases","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-025-01801-7","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/3/12 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Immunology and Microbiology","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Mediterranean region is recognized as one of the most impacted areas of which Algeria has been traditionally acknowledged as endemic for leishmaniasis. This study carried out in Algiers, north-central Algeria, aimed to carry outa serological and clinical investigation of canine leishmaniasis (CanL) invarious dog breeds, outlining the risk factors associated with Leishmania infection. Blood samples, along with clinical data and general information, were gathered and examined from 305 dogs, of which 210 were males and 95 were females. Numerous breeds made up this sample, including the local breed, German shepherd, pitbul, foxhound, among others. Anti-Leishmania IgG antibodies were detected using IFAT and samples were scored as positive at a cut-off dilution of ≥ 1:80. Anti-Leishmania antibodies were detected (95% CI 15.21-24.13%) of dogs of which 6.48% were clinically asymptomatic. Factors such as age, breed, and presence of clinical signs of leishmaniasis were found to significantly impact the prevalence of Leishmania infection, while gender did not show a significant association. The highest rates of infection were found in dogs aged 4-6 years (33.33%) and over 6 years (34.62%) (p < 0.001). In relation to breed, local dogs showed a significantly lower infection rate compared to other breeds (p < 0.01). All dogs that were clinically diagnosed with leishmaniasis tested seropositive and the predominant clinical sign noted were adenopathy (81.40%), weight loss (67.44%) and skin ulcers (48.84%). Adenopathy was significantly more frequent (4.38-11.67 times) compared to the other symptoms (p < 0.001). The isoenzymatic characterization of30seropositive dogs revealed the presence of the zymodeme L. infantum MON-1. The current study confirmed the endemic status of CanLin Algeriaand identified several factors that may influence the seropositivity in the study region.
Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12639-025-01801-7.
地中海区域被认为是受影响最严重的地区之一，阿尔及利亚传统上被认为是利什曼病的流行地区。本研究在阿尔及利亚中北部的阿尔及尔开展，旨在对各种犬种的犬利什曼病（CanL）进行血清学和临床调查，概述与利什曼病感染相关的危险因素。研究人员收集并检查了305只狗的血液样本、临床数据和一般信息，其中210只是雄性，95只是雌性。这个样本中有许多品种，包括当地品种，德国牧羊犬，斗牛犬，猎狐犬等。采用IFAT检测抗利什曼原虫IgG抗体，截止稀释度≥1:80时为阳性。检出抗利什曼原虫抗体（95% CI 15.21 ~ 24.13%），其中6.48%的犬临床无症状。发现年龄、品种和利什曼病临床症状等因素对利什曼病感染流行率有显著影响，而性别没有显示出显著关联。4 ~ 6岁感染率最高（33.33%），6岁以上感染率最高（34.62%）(p p p L。infantum MON-1。目前的研究证实了阿尔及利亚CanLin的流行状况，并确定了可能影响研究地区血清阳性的几个因素。补充信息：在线版本包含补充资料，可在10.1007/s12639-025-01801-7获得。
期刊介绍：
The primary constituency of the Journal of Parasitic Diseases is parasitology. It publishes original research papers (pure, applied and clinical), which contribute significantly to any area of parasitology. Research papers on various aspects of cellular and molecular parasitology are welcome.
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