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Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana

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Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana. / Sadlova, Jovana; Vojtkova, Barbora; Becvar, Tomas et al.
In: International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, Vol. 11, 01.04.2020, p. 40-45.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Sadlova, J, Vojtkova, B, Becvar, T, Lestinova, T, Spitzova, T, Bates, P & Volf, P 2020, 'Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana', International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, vol. 11, pp. 40-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.12.002

APA

Sadlova, J., Vojtkova, B., Becvar, T., Lestinova, T., Spitzova, T., Bates, P., & Volf, P. (2020). Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, 11, 40-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.12.002

Vancouver

Sadlova J, Vojtkova B, Becvar T, Lestinova T, Spitzova T, Bates P et al. Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife. 2020 Apr 1;11:40-45. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.12.002

Author

Sadlova, Jovana ; Vojtkova, Barbora ; Becvar, Tomas et al. / Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana. In: International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife. 2020 ; Vol. 11. pp. 40-45.

Bibtex

@article{bdbe3ba3f6f840f399a7ebd85fe44e79,
title = "Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana",
abstract = "Visceral leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania donovani is regarded as mostly anthroponotic, but a role for animal reservoir hosts in transmission has been suggested in East Africa. Field studies in this region have shown the presence of this parasite in several mammalian species, including rodents of the genera Arvicanthis and Mastomys. Further, the natural reservoirs of Leishmania (Mundinia) sp. causing human cutaneous disease in Ghana, West Africa, are unknown. This study assessed the potential role of the Sub-Saharan rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis as hosts of L. donovani and L. sp. from Ghana, based on experimental infections of animals and xenodiagnoses. The distribution and load of parasites were determined post mortem using qPCR from the blood, skin and viscera samples. The attractiveness of Arvicanthis and Mastomys to Phlebotomus orientalis was tested by pair-wise comparisons. None of the animals inoculated with L. donovani were infectious to P. orientalis females, although, in some animals, parasites were detected by PCR even 30 weeks post infection. Skin infections were characterized by low numbers of parasites while high parasite burdens were present in spleen, liver and lymph nodes only. Therefore, wild Arvicanthis and Mastomys found infected with L. donovani, should be considered parasite sinks rather than parasite reservoirs. This is indirectly supported also by results of host choice experiments with P. orientalis in which females preferred humans over both Arvicanthis and Mastomys, and their feeding rates on rodents ranged from 1.4 to 5.8% only. Therefore, the involvement of these rodents in transmission of L. donovani by P. orientalis is very unlikely. Similarly, poor survival of Leishmania parasites in the studied rodents and negative results of xenodiagnostic experiments do not support the involvement of Arvicanthis and Mastomys spp. in the transmission cycle of L. sp. from Ghana.",
keywords = "Grass rats, Multimammate mice, Mundinia, Reservoir hosts, Visceral leishmaniasis, Xenodiagnosis",
author = "Jovana Sadlova and Barbora Vojtkova and Tomas Becvar and Tereza Lestinova and Tatiana Spitzova and Paul Bates and Petr Volf",
year = "2020",
month = apr,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.12.002",
language = "English",
volume = "11",
pages = "40--45",
journal = "International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife",
issn = "2213-2244",
publisher = "Elsevier BV",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana

AU - Sadlova, Jovana

AU - Vojtkova, Barbora

AU - Becvar, Tomas

AU - Lestinova, Tereza

AU - Spitzova, Tatiana

AU - Bates, Paul

AU - Volf, Petr

PY - 2020/4/1

Y1 - 2020/4/1

N2 - Visceral leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania donovani is regarded as mostly anthroponotic, but a role for animal reservoir hosts in transmission has been suggested in East Africa. Field studies in this region have shown the presence of this parasite in several mammalian species, including rodents of the genera Arvicanthis and Mastomys. Further, the natural reservoirs of Leishmania (Mundinia) sp. causing human cutaneous disease in Ghana, West Africa, are unknown. This study assessed the potential role of the Sub-Saharan rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis as hosts of L. donovani and L. sp. from Ghana, based on experimental infections of animals and xenodiagnoses. The distribution and load of parasites were determined post mortem using qPCR from the blood, skin and viscera samples. The attractiveness of Arvicanthis and Mastomys to Phlebotomus orientalis was tested by pair-wise comparisons. None of the animals inoculated with L. donovani were infectious to P. orientalis females, although, in some animals, parasites were detected by PCR even 30 weeks post infection. Skin infections were characterized by low numbers of parasites while high parasite burdens were present in spleen, liver and lymph nodes only. Therefore, wild Arvicanthis and Mastomys found infected with L. donovani, should be considered parasite sinks rather than parasite reservoirs. This is indirectly supported also by results of host choice experiments with P. orientalis in which females preferred humans over both Arvicanthis and Mastomys, and their feeding rates on rodents ranged from 1.4 to 5.8% only. Therefore, the involvement of these rodents in transmission of L. donovani by P. orientalis is very unlikely. Similarly, poor survival of Leishmania parasites in the studied rodents and negative results of xenodiagnostic experiments do not support the involvement of Arvicanthis and Mastomys spp. in the transmission cycle of L. sp. from Ghana.

AB - Visceral leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania donovani is regarded as mostly anthroponotic, but a role for animal reservoir hosts in transmission has been suggested in East Africa. Field studies in this region have shown the presence of this parasite in several mammalian species, including rodents of the genera Arvicanthis and Mastomys. Further, the natural reservoirs of Leishmania (Mundinia) sp. causing human cutaneous disease in Ghana, West Africa, are unknown. This study assessed the potential role of the Sub-Saharan rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis as hosts of L. donovani and L. sp. from Ghana, based on experimental infections of animals and xenodiagnoses. The distribution and load of parasites were determined post mortem using qPCR from the blood, skin and viscera samples. The attractiveness of Arvicanthis and Mastomys to Phlebotomus orientalis was tested by pair-wise comparisons. None of the animals inoculated with L. donovani were infectious to P. orientalis females, although, in some animals, parasites were detected by PCR even 30 weeks post infection. Skin infections were characterized by low numbers of parasites while high parasite burdens were present in spleen, liver and lymph nodes only. Therefore, wild Arvicanthis and Mastomys found infected with L. donovani, should be considered parasite sinks rather than parasite reservoirs. This is indirectly supported also by results of host choice experiments with P. orientalis in which females preferred humans over both Arvicanthis and Mastomys, and their feeding rates on rodents ranged from 1.4 to 5.8% only. Therefore, the involvement of these rodents in transmission of L. donovani by P. orientalis is very unlikely. Similarly, poor survival of Leishmania parasites in the studied rodents and negative results of xenodiagnostic experiments do not support the involvement of Arvicanthis and Mastomys spp. in the transmission cycle of L. sp. from Ghana.

KW - Grass rats

KW - Multimammate mice

KW - Mundinia

KW - Reservoir hosts

KW - Visceral leishmaniasis

KW - Xenodiagnosis

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.12.002

DO - 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.12.002

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85076188999

VL - 11

SP - 40

EP - 45

JO - International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife

JF - International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife

SN - 2213-2244

ER -