Natural infection of cats with Leishmania in Barquisimeto, Venezuela

• Published in: Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Vol. 85; no. 1; p. 53
• Main Authors: Bonfante-Garrido, Rafael, Urdaneta, Iván, Urdaneta, Rafael, Alvarado, Jorge
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 1991; Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cat Diseases - parasitology; Cats; Female; Human protozoal diseases; infection; Infectious diseases; leishmania venezuelensis; leishmaniasis; Leishmaniasis - parasitology; Leishmaniasis - veterinary; Leshmaniasis; Male; Medical sciences; Parasitic diseases; Protozoal diseases; Tropical medicine; Venezuela; Venezuela; South America; Fissipedia; Carnivora; Protozoal disease; Leishmaniasis; Infection; Venezuela; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Animal; America; Cat; Mucocutaneous
• ISSN: 0035-9203; 1878-3503
• DOI: 10.1016/0035-9203(91)90153-P

On 14 March 1990, while studying an endemic focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, we observed 3 cats (Felis domesticus ) with lesions in the district of El Carmen, near la Ruezga creek. The first (male) animal had a nodular lesion about 2 cm in diameter on the nose and another 6 smaller nodules on the ears. The other 2 cats (females) each had a single nodule, about 3 x 2 cm, on the nose. Smears made from all of the lesions and stained by the Giemsa method contained abundant amastigotes, both inside and outside histiocytes, very similar in size and shape to those of Leishmania venezuelensis .