Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 May 16;9(5):115.
doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed9050115.

Finding Priority Areas in the Evaluation of Strategies for the Prevention of Leishmaniasis in an Endemic Municipality of Brazil

Talita Carolina Bragança de Oliveira  1 , Anaiá da Paixão Sevá  2 , João Alfredo Biagi Camargo Neto  1 , Uelio de Lima Lopes  2 , Katia Denise Saraiva Bresciani  1
Affiliations

Finding Priority Areas in the Evaluation of Strategies for the Prevention of Leishmaniasis in an Endemic Municipality of Brazil

Talita Carolina Bragança de Oliveira et al. Trop Med Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease that affects humans and dogs. The infection is endemic in the municipality of Araçatuba, São Paulo, Brazil. Given the role of dogs in the epidemiology of leishmaniasis, strategies to enhance surveillance and reduce transmission are focused on dogs. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed records of canine visceral leishmaniasis from 2013 to 2022. According to this database, the prevalence of dogs testing positive for leishmaniasis fluctuated, with an average of 65.04% (6590/10,133). Cases were clustered in 10 statistically significant areas. Environmental analyses identified a significant geographical association between animals testing positive and higher vegetation density rates compared with animals testing negative. The period from sample collection to diagnosis and euthanasia, as recommended by the Brazilian Ministry, correlated with disease prevalence and decreased over time. These findings serve to implement different action plans against leishmaniasis for each geographic region and to understand the impact and efforts of strategies in an endemic area.

Keywords: Leishmania spp.; dog; serology; spatial analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of the municipality of Araçatuba in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The left panels show the location of the state of São Paulo in Brazil and the municipality within the state.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flowchart of the leishmaniasis survey conducted on 30,801 dogs in the municipality of Araçatuba.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Time interval (in days) between blood collection and the DPP screening test from 2013 to 2022 in the municipality of Araçatuba, São Paulo.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A): Number of samples tested positive for visceral leishmaniasis in both tests and their prevalence (%). (B): Comparison between the prevalence (positive for both tests/sampled with conclusive results) and the frequency of euthanasia (euthanized/positive) throughout the year in Araçatuba, São Paulo.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A): Number of samples tested positive for visceral leishmaniasis in both tests and their prevalence (%). (B): Comparison between the prevalence (positive for both tests/sampled with conclusive results) and the frequency of euthanasia (euthanized/positive) throughout the year in Araçatuba, São Paulo.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Comparison of the dates for blood collection, screening and confirmatory tests, and euthanasia of dogs in the municipality of Aracatuba, São Paulo, from 2013 to 2022. Periods between blood collection and DPP test (collect–dpp); blood collection and confirmatory test results (ELISA) (collect–elisa); blood collection and euthanasia (collect–eutha); the screening test (DPP) and the confirmatory test (ELISA) (dpp–elisa); and confirmatory test results (ELISA) and euthanasia (elisa–eutha).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Spatial distribution of dogs sampled and their leishmaniasis serology status from 2013 to 2022 in the urban area of Araçatuba. (a) Spatial distribution of households with dogs testing seropositive and seronegative according to the DPP and ELISA tests. (b) Clusters of significant prevalence and intensity of seropositive dogs. Legend. Data of cluster are in Table 3.
Figure 7
Figure 7
NDVI with locations of seronegative and seropositive dogs, with a buffer of 150 m, for the years 2013 to 2022, in the urban area of Araçatuba. Boxplots are with statistical results of Mann–Whitney analysis.
Figure 8
Figure 8
NDWI with locations of seronegative and seropositive dogs, with a 150 m buffer, from 2013 to 2022, in the urban areas of the municipality of Araçatuba, São Paulo. Boxplots are with statistical results of Mann–Whitney analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Martins-Melo F.R., Lima M.D.S., Ramos A.N., Alencar C.H., Heukelbach J. Mortality and case fatality due to visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil: A nationwide analysis of epidemiology, trends and spatial patterns. PLoS ONE. 2014;9:e93770. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093770. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brasília . Guia de Vigilância em Saúde. Ministério da Saúde; Brasília, Brasil: 2016. p. 773. - DOI
    1. Burza S., Croft S.L., Boelaert M. Leishmaniasis. Lancet. 2018;392:951–970. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31204-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Silva S.T.P., Marques L.D.F.V., Lamounier K.C.C., Castro J.M., Cabrera G.P.B. Leishmaniose visceral humana: Reflexões éticas e jurídicas acerca do controle do reservatório canino no Brasil. Rev. Bioética Derecho Perspect. Bioét. 2017;39:135–151. doi: 10.1344/rbd2017.39.17719. - DOI
    1. da Saude M., de V em Saude S. Estratificação de Risco da Leishmaniose Visceral por Município de Infecção. Brasil, 2020 a 2022. [(accessed on 3 February 2023)];2022 Available online: https://www.gov.br/saude/pt-br/assuntos/saude-de-a-a-z/l/leishmaniose-vi....

LinkOut - more resources