Country-Level Canine Leishmaniosis Risk: A Literature Review, 2019-2023

Abstract

Aims: Dogs are the primary reservoir for Leishmania infantum, a zoonotic, vector-borne pathogen that causes severe disease in people and dogs. International movement of dogs represents a risk for the introduction of L. infantum into nonendemic countries. Knowing the Leishmania status of the countries a dog has visited allows veterinary and public health professionals to more accurately assess the dog's leishmaniosis risk and take appropriate public health action. The aim of this review was to create a centralised source of information on leishmaniosis risk at the country level to support such assessments.

Methods: We reviewed literature and reports published from 2019 to 2023 relating to canine leishmaniosis, L. infantum, and the distribution of sandflies. We developed a scoring system and assigned a risk category to each country, ranging from 'no evidence of risk' to 'high risk'.

Results: We scored 91 countries as moderate or high risk, 107 as low risk or no evidence of risk and 44 had no data available. Among the countries scored, data availability was often limited.

Conclusions: This review represents a valuable centralised source of information on canine leishmaniosis risk to support public health assessments. Assessments would benefit from improved surveillance and reporting, especially systematic serosurveillance in dogs and inclusion of Leishmania species information in reports of human disease.

Keywords: leishmania infantum; canine leishmaniosis; dog importation; risk assessment.

FIGURE 1 |

Map of country-level canine leishmaniosis risk based on review of literature published during 2019–2023. *Canine leishmaniosis caused by Leishmania infantum is present in certain populations of dogs in the United States, but transmission is primarily vertical, rather than vector-borne (Franssen et al. 2022). A detailed individual history is needed to determine the risk associated with dogs born in or with travel to the United States.