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. 2019 Jun 26;13(6):e0007553.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007553. eCollection 2019 Jun.

Failure of the dog culling strategy in controlling human visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil: A screening coverage issue?

Lucas Christian de Sousa-Paula  1 , Lidiane Gomes da Silva  2 , Kamila Gaudêncio da Silva Sales  1 , Filipe Dantas-Torres  1
Affiliations

Failure of the dog culling strategy in controlling human visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil: A screening coverage issue?

Lucas Christian de Sousa-Paula et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. .

Abstract

In the present study, we assessed the annual screening coverage (i.e., the percentage of dogs that are screened for anti-Leishmania antibodies annually) in the municipality of Sobral, Ceará state, Brazil. Data on the number of dogs screened during 2008-2017 (except 2010) were obtained from the Centre for Zoonoses Control of Sobral. The annual screening coverage during 2012-2017 was calculated. Data on human visceral leishmaniasis (VL) cases during 2008-2017 were compiled from the National Disease Notification System. Correlation analyses were performed to assess the correlation between canine and human data. During 2008-2017, 73,964 dogs (range, 0 to 13,980 dogs/year) were serologically screened and 2,833 (3.8%) were positive. The annual screening coverage during 2012-2017 ranged from 11.1% to 45.7%. There were no significant correlations between the number of dogs culled and the number of human VL cases, canine positivity and human VL incidence, number of dogs culled and human VL incidence, or between canine positivity and number of human VL cases. An inconsistent and relatively low annual screening coverage was found in the study area, with no dog being screened in 2010 due to the lack of serological tests. Our results highlight that many dogs potentially infected with Leishmania infantum have been virtually overlooked by public health workers in the study area, perhaps with a negative, yet underestimated, impact on the control of canine and human VL. Hence, the failure of the dog culling strategy in controlling human VL in Brazil may be due to the low screening coverage and low percentage of culled dogs, rather than the absence of associations between canine and human infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

FDT has received funding from Bayer Animal Health to conduct a clinical trial to access the efficacy of flumethrin plus imidacloprid collar in preventing vector-borne pathogen infections on dogs in Brazil. He also received honoraria for talks in scientific meetings organized by Bayer Animal Health and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Districts where dog were screened and where human visceral leishmaniasis were notified in the urban area of Sobral, Ceará state, Brazil, 2008–2017.
Sobral urban area divided into 35 districts. (1) Alto da Brasília, (2) Alto do Cristo, (3) Campo dos Velhos, (4) Centro, (5) Cidade Dr. José Euclides Ferreira Gomes, (6) Cidade Gerardo Cristino de Menezes, (7) Cidade Pedro Mendes Carneiro, (8) Cohab I, (9) Cohab II, (10) Coração de Jesus, (11) Distrito Industrial, (12) Dom Expedito, (13) Dom José, (14) Domingos Olímpio, (15) Edmundo Monte Coelho, (16) Expectativa, (17) Jatobá, (18) Jerônimo de Medeiros Prado, (19) Jocely Dantas de Andrade Torres, (20) Juazeiro, (21) Junco, (22) Juvêncio de Andrade, (23) Mucambinho, (24) Nossa Senhora de Fátima, (25) Nova Caiçara, (26) Novo Recanto, (27) Padre Ibiapina, (28) Padre Palhano, (29) Parque Silvana, (30) Pedrinhas, (31) Renato Parente, (32) Sinhá Sabóia, (33) Sumaré, (34) Várzea Grande, (35) Vila União. Maps were produced using QGIS based on public geographic data from OpenStreetMap.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Positivity for anti-Leishmania antibodies in dogs from districts of Sobral (Ceará state, Brazil), from 2008 to 2017.
(A) Districts displaying bimodal peaks in even-years. (B) Districts displaying bimodal peaks in odd-years. (C) Districts displaying no defined pattern.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Human visceral leishmaniasis cases notified in districts of Sobral, Ceará state, Brazil, 2008–2017.
Maps were produced using QGIS.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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