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Tomás-Pérez M, Khaldi M, Riera C, Mozo-León D, Ribas A, Hide M, Barech G, Benyettou M, Seghiri K, Doudou S, Fisa R. First report of natural infection in hedgehogs with Leishmania major, a possible reservoir of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Algeria. Acta Trop 2014; 135:44-9. [PMID: 24699087 DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2014.03.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2013] [Revised: 03/13/2014] [Accepted: 03/17/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
We report here the first known cases of natural infection of hedgehogs with Leishmania major. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an important public health problem in the area of M'sila, a semi-arid province in Algeria's northern Sahara, where two species of hedgehog live, Atelerix algirus and Paraechinus aethiopicus. The aim of this research was to survey Leishmania infection in these hedgehogs and evaluate whether they were reservoir hosts of Leishmania in an endemic zoonotic focus of leishmaniasis. Serological and molecular methods were used to determine the presence of Leishmania in 24 hedgehogs caught directly by hand and identified at species level as 19 A. algirus and 5 P. aethiopicus. Specific anti-Leishmania antibodies were detected in 29.2% of individuals by Western blot and in 26.3% by ELISA. The real-time PCR performed in spleen, ear and blood samples detected Leishmania spp. DNA in 12.5% of the individuals, one A. algirus and two P. aethiopicus. Three skin and two spleen samples of these animals were found to be parasitized and were identified by molecular test as L. major. Considering our results, it is suggested that hedgehogs have a potential epidemiological role as reservoir hosts of L. major.
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Affiliation(s)
- Míriam Tomás-Pérez
- Laboratori de Parasitologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mourad Khaldi
- Laboratoire d'Écologie, Département des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Faculté des Sciences, Pôle Universitaire de M'sila, 28000, Algeria; Département de Zoologie Agricole et Forestière, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique, El-Harrach, Algeria
| | - Cristina Riera
- Laboratori de Parasitologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Denis Mozo-León
- Laboratori de Parasitologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Alexis Ribas
- Laboratori de Parasitologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Biodiversity Research Group, Faculty of Science, Udon Thani Rajabhat University, Udon Thani 41000 Thailand
| | - Mallorie Hide
- Laboratoire MIVEGEC (UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-Université Montpellier 1), Montpellier, F-34394, France
| | - Ghania Barech
- Laboratoire d'Écologie, Département des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Faculté des Sciences, Pôle Universitaire de M'sila, 28000, Algeria; Département de Zoologie Agricole et Forestière, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique, El-Harrach, Algeria
| | - Meryam Benyettou
- Laboratoire d'Écologie, Département des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Faculté des Sciences, Pôle Universitaire de M'sila, 28000, Algeria
| | - Kamel Seghiri
- Laboratoire d'Écologie, Département des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Faculté des Sciences, Pôle Universitaire de M'sila, 28000, Algeria
| | - Souad Doudou
- Laboratoire d'Écologie, Département des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Faculté des Sciences, Pôle Universitaire de M'sila, 28000, Algeria
| | - Roser Fisa
- Laboratori de Parasitologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
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