Identification of putative volatile biomarkers of canine leishmaniasis in dog's breath and hair employing a novel algorithm for automated chromatographic peak detection and matching.

The analysis of the volatile compounds released by biological samples represents a promising approach for the non-invasive diagnosis of a disease. The present study, focused on a population of dogs infected with canine leishmaniasis, aimed to decipher the volatolomic profile associated with this disease in dogs, which represent the main animal reservoir for Leishmania pathogen transmission to humans. The volatiles emitted by the breath and hair of dogs were analysed employing the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique.

An investigation on vertical transmission of Leishmania infantum in experimentally infected dogs and assessment of offspring's infectiousness potential by xenodiagnosis.

Dogs are the main reservoir host of Leishmania infantum, etiologic agent of human visceral leishmaniasis (HVL) and canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL). Transmission of L. infantum to humans and dogs is mainly through the bite of infected sand flies.

Interaction between canine and human visceral leishmaniases in a holoendemic focus of Central Tunisia.

Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is endemic in the Mediterranean basin. In Tunisia, CVL is spatially associated with human visceral leishmaniasis (HVL) affecting mostly children younger than 5 years old. In this study, seroprevalence of Leishmania infantum infection in dogs was assessed in highly endemic districts of the governorate of Kairouan where more than 50% of HVL cases in Tunisia were reported.

Short report: Contribution of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction to follow-up of visceral leishmaniasis patients treated with meglumine antimoniate.

Forty-two patients with visceral leishmaniasis in Tunisia were treated with meglumine antimoniate and followed-up for clinical improvement and blood parasite load determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Parasite loads before treatment ranged from 27 to 5.3 x 10(7) parasites/mL.

[Epidemiology of Leishmania (L.) infantum, L. major and L. killicki in Tunisia: results and analysis of the identification of 226 human and canine isolates].

The epidemiological situation of leishmaniasis in Tunisia is characterised by the co-existence in a very limited territory (165,000 km2, Sahara included), of 4 clinical forms: the infantile visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and 3 cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) forms (sporadic, zoonotic and chronic). In addition to the useful epidemiological data, identification of the causative parasitic species is essential to determine the geographic distribution of each form and to select appropriate therapeutic procedure and suitable control measures. 226 Leishmania isolates, 135 human's coming from 59 VL cases and 76 CL cases and 91 canine's were identified by the isoenzyme electrophoresis reference technique.