Estudo sorológico da infecção por Leishmania sp. e Leptospira spp. em cães de assentamentos rurais no Estado da Paraíba.

Abstract

Rural settlements are designed areas for landless workers, which purpose is to strengthen family agriculture through public policies. They are peculiar environments that may represent a risk of diseases, especially zoonotic types, naturally considering living close to animals, which in a certain way, may act as sources of infection. Chapter I of this study aimed to determine the seropositivity and risk factors for Leishmania sp. in dogs from rural settlements in the State of Paraíba, Northeastern of Brazil. A total of 306 dogs were tested, and the serological diagnosis of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) was performed by ELISA S7. Of the 306 dogs, 118 (38,6%) showed anti- Leishmania sp. antibodies. The risk factors identified for CVL seropositivity were: age between 12-24 months (OR = 2.97), age between 24 – 48 months (OR = 4.83), age between 4-6 years (OR = 4.40), age > 6 years (OR = 3.62), contact with birds (OR = 1.675) and gender (female) (OR = 1.97). The high frequency of LVC in dogs from rural settlements in the semi-arid region of Paraíba makes the population of these locations susceptible to infection. This factor points to a need to alert the epidemiological surveillance agencies to establish measures to prevent and control this zoonosis. It is recommended the construction of poultry houses apart from residences, spraying with insecticides in human habitations and animal facilities, as well as, improvements in sanitary practices, aiming to reduce the accumulation of organic matter and therefore decrease the population of phlebotomy and its contact with human beings. The purpose of chapter II was to determine the frequency of anti-Leptospira spp. antibodies in dogs from the rural settlements of the state of Paraíba, northeastern of Brazil, as well as identify risk factors. A total of 306 dogs were tested, and the diagnosis of Leptospira spp. was performed by the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT). There were 27/306 (8,82%; IC 95% = 6,13 - 12,5%) dogs identified as being seropositive for Leptospira spp. the Pomona was the most frequent serotype. The creation of loose type (OR = 3.53) was identified as a risk factor for the disease. The results of this study indicate the presence of antibodies anti-leptospira spp in dogs from rural settlements areas of the state of Paraiba, northeastern of Brazil. This fact reinforces the need to limit the contact of dogs with wild reservoirs and implementation of improvements in sanitary conditions in the settlements, highlighting the construction of pigsties apart from homes in order to reduce the occurrence of the infections and therefore reduce the transmission of the disease to humans and animals.