Soroepidemiologia e conhecimento dos médicos veterinários para leishmaniose visceral canina em municípios indenes do sul do RS

Abstract

Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is a vector-borne parasitic disease that is rapidly expanding geographically, with autochthonous cases recorded in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) since 2006. Areas that are not affected by the disease, such as the municipalities of Pelotas, Rio Grande and Bagé, are not part of active epidemiological surveillance for CVL, but the region has predisposing factors for the onset of the disease. The knowledge of health professionals working in VL-endemic areas is often reported in studies as insufficient, and it is believed that the situation in areas that are not affected by the disease is even worse, which has consequences for the prevention and control of the disease. In view of the above, considering the relevance of dogs as sentinels of the presence of Leishmania infantum in municipalities, the expansion of VL in RS and the relevance of veterinarians as health promoters, the objectives of this study were: to conduct a seroepidemiological survey on serum samples from dogs treated at the Veterinary Clinics Hospital of the Federal University of Pelotas (HCV-UFPel), located in the municipality of Capão do Leão and a reference in the region, and to evaluate the knowledge of veterinarians working in the municipalities of Pelotas and Rio Grande do Sul about the parasitosis. The survey was carried out over a three-year period, following the current protocol of the Ministry of Health (MS). In total, 2,365 samples from asymptomatic animals were tested, and of these, 0.8% were seroreactive in the Dual Path Platform (DPP®) screening test. Of the samples that tested positive for DPP®, 37% were seroreactive in ELISA (Bio-Manguinhos®), one was inconclusive (5.2%), 42% were negative and 21% were not subject to confirmatory tests. Individual interviews were conducted with 40 veterinarians through the application of a questionnaire including questions about the professional (2/17), epidemiology (6/17), diagnosis (7/17) and euthanasia in CVL (2/17). Of those interviewed, 42.5% believed that VL is contagious, 95% of them knew the etiological agent, 60% knew the vector and 90% the urban reservoir. Twenty (50%) veterinarians would request the gold standard test (parasitological) when suspecting a case, and 97.5% were unaware that DPP® is an exclusive epidemiological surveillance test. Half (20) of the respondents did not know the type of notification that the disease falls under, and 17.5% believed that euthanasia was mandatory for all positive animals. It was observed that the municipalities of Pelotas, Rio Grande and Bagé, where the seropositive animals reside and considered to be free municipalities, have circulation of seropositive dogs according to the current protocol of the Ministry of Health and require attention from epidemiological surveillance. Given the results of the interviews, it was observed that there is a need for veterinarians to be updated on the subject so that they can be prepared to assist in the prevention and control of CVL.