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CROSS-SECTIONAL SEROSURVEY OF FELINE LEISHMANIASIS IN ECOREGIONS AROUND THE NORTHWESTERN MEDITERRANEAN

A cross-sectional serosurvey using Leishmania infantum ELISA was performed on 445 cats living in ecoregions around the Northwestern Mediterranean basin; 58 cats from an area of the US where leishmaniasis is not endemic were used as negative controls. ELISA results were further confirmed in 69 cats by Western blot (WB). Finally, 76 of them were also tested for FeLV and FIV. Seroprevalence by ELISA-prot A was 6.29%, and that by ELISA-IgG was 5.25%. Positive cat sera recognized patterns of polypeptides in WB, including L. infantum-specific antigenic fractions. There was no association with retroviruses. Leishmania-specific antibodies are prevalent in cats living in ecoregions around the Northwestern Mediterranean basin; thus, leishmaniasis must be included in the differential diagnosis of diseases in cats living in these ecoregions. Their role as peridomestic reservoirs for L. infantum needs further characterization, but it could be hypothesized that the cat is a secondary reservoir host, rather than an accidental one.

Received March 29, 2006. Accepted for publication October 21, 2006.

Acknowledgment: This work was supported in part by grant BIO2004-03893 from the Spanish Government to Jordi Alberola.

^* Address correspondence to Jordi Alberola, Departament de Farmacologia, Terapèutica i Toxicologia, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. E-mail: Jordi.Alberola{at}uab.es.

Authors’ addresses: Laia Solano-Gallego, Alhelí Rodríguez-Coertés, Josefina Quintana, and Jordi Alberola, Departament de Farmacologia, Terapèutica i Toxicologia, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain, Telephone: +34 935811532, Fax: +34 935812059, E-mail: Jordi.Alberola{at}uab.es. Laura Iniesta and Montserrat Portús, Laboratori de Parasitologia, Departament de Microbiologia i Parasitologia Sanitàries, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain, Telephone: +34 934024497, Fax: +34 934024498, E-mail: mportus{at}ub.edu. Joseph Pastor and Yvonne Espada, Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain, Telephone: +34 935811091, Fax: +34 935812006, E-mail: d.med.cirurgia.animal{at}uab.es.

Reprint requests: Jordi Alberola, Departament de Farmacologia, Terapèutica i Toxicologia, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Au-tònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain, Telephone: +34 935811532, Fax: +34 935812059, E-mail: Jordi.Alberola{at}uab.es.