Pesquisa de anticorpos anti-Trypanosoma caninum em cães atendidos no Hospital Veterinário da UFCG.

Abstract

Research of anti-Trypanosoma caninum antibodies in dogs treated at the Veterinary Hospital of UFCG. Trypanosoma caninum is a new species of trypanosomatid that infects dogs and has been reported in areas where there is visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas' disease. As the parasite was identified in some regions in Brazil, this work aimed to verify the presence of antibody anti-T. caninum in animals attended in the Veterinary Hospital from Centro de Saúde e Tecnologia Rural, at Universidade Federal de Campina Grande. The parasite survey was conducted in 55 animals from municipalities of Paraiba, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte. For parasite isolation, skin fragments were seeded in NNN/LIT medium. For detecting anti-T. caninum and anti-L. infantum antibodies, it were conducted an ELISA and ELISA S7®, respectively. T. caninum was not isolated from skin fragments. By ELISA, six (10.9%) animals were positive and 9 (18%) were indeterminate to T. caninum. By ELISA S7®, six (10.9%) and three (5.45%) animals were positive and indeterminate, respectively. A positive animal for T. caninum was undetermined for L. infantum. It is possible that animals of the states of Paraíba, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte have been exposed to contact with Trypanosoma caninum.