title: Course of experimental infection of canine leishmaniosis: follow-up and utility of noninvasive diagnostic techniques.
abstract: This study compares the utility of a molecular diagnosis of experimental CanL on non-invasive samples (urine, conjunctival (CS), oral (OS) and vulvar (VS) swabs) with that of traditional invasive techniques during the course of infection. Eight dogs were experimen-tally infected with Leishmania infantum and followed monthly for 12 months to assess clinical, clinicopathological, immunological and parasitological variables. Active infection was produced in 100% of the dogs. The animals showed positive bone marrow (BM) cytologies and cultures, clinical signs, clinicopathological abnormalities and a high specific humoral immune response. The infection was detected at 90 days post-infection (p.i.) by real-time quantitative PCR (rtQ-PCR) on BM in all dogs and in blood in 2 dogs, while anti-L. infantum antibody seroconversion occurred between Days 120 and 180 days p.i. The tissue with the highest L. infantum kDNA load, as detected by rtQ-PCR, was BM (range 381.5–70,000 parasites/ml at the study end), this sample type showing greater sensitivity than peripheral blood (PB). The vulvar swabs used here for the first time to quantify para-site loads in dogs revealed a greater load than oral and conjunctival swabs at one year p.i. Urine samples showed the lowest concentrations of L. infantum DNA (maximum: 8.57 par-asites/ml). Our results suggest that for the early detection of infection, adding to serology a test such as rtQ-PCR on OS or VS improves sensitivity and specificity.
authors.forename: Leticia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montoya
authors.forename: Rocío
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Checa
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dado
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gálvez
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Otranto
authors.forename: Maria Stefania
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Latrofa
authors.forename: Gad
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baneth
authors.forename: Guadalupe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Miró
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000469:parasitology; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics / Q000652:urine; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D018314:Leishmania infantum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan