Prevalência de leishmaniose visceral canina no município de Caicó, rio Grande do Norte, Brasil: soroprevalência, fatores de risco e isolamento do agente.

Abstract

The present study was aimed at the evaluation of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) prevalence and associated risk factors in the urban area of Caico, Rio Grande do Norte State. Sera and clinical observations were taken from 358 dogs resident in all city quarters and from additional 93 dogs hosted at the city's Zoonosis Control Center (CCZ). The serodiagnosis was performed using the commercial ELISA S7 CVL kit (Biogene Ind., Recife, Brazil). The prevalence was estimated to be 5.0% (18/358) among dogs from the city quarters and 15% (14/93) among animals hosted in CCZ. Relatively to sex, 67% (12) were males and 33,3% (6) females. As for age, 75% (12) of positive dogs were 1 to 4 years old. Most positive dogs (93.7%) were asymptomatic, had their dwellings outside the house (88%), were short furred (83%) and of mixed breeding (66%). These results point toward the need of greater attention to the role of dogs as host for this zoonosis, as well as to the role urbanization, environment changes and caatinga destruction can play as risk factors for the disease maintenance and prevalence among dogs. Environmental changes due to long, cyclic droughts, followed by human migration and the creation of new suburban settlements are enlarging the endemic areas and prompting the occurrence of new CVL foci. Finally, the study points toward the urgent need of control measures to be taken by the County Health Authority in Caico aiming at CVL prevalence reduction.