MINAS GERAIS/BRAZIL (23 February 2009) – Leishmania chagasi, the agent of visceral leishmaniasis in dogs in the Americas, has a tropism to the male genital system, particularly the epididymis, prepuce, and glans penis, Dr. Fabiane L. Silva, from Federal University of Minas Gerais, and colleagues write in Veterinary Parasitology. Consequently infected dogs shed Leishmania in the semen.

The investigators´ goal was “to verify the possibility of venereal transmission of Leishmania chagasi.” Thus they led 12 Leishmania-free bitches, housed in the absence of the insect vector, copulate with multiple naturally infected dogs that were shedding Leishmania in the semen.

Further examination showed that 3 bitches seroconverted, and six were PCR positive by the end of the experimental period (165 days after the last copulation). These data show that Leishmania chagasi “may be sexually transmitted from naturally infected dogs to susceptible bitches in the absence of the biological insect vectors,” they conclude.

References

• Veterinary Parasitology, Volume 160, Issues 1-2, 9 March 2009, Pages 55-59