VL USA (cont)

[Dr Harry Noyes]

Sandflies are found in large areas of the USA but most of them are
reptile biters or rarely come in contact with humans (see Phlebotomine
sandflies of North America. Young and Perkins Mosquito news 1984
44:263-304. They do transmit leishmania in Texas and Arizona amongst
rodents and very occasionally to humans
Kerr SF, McHugh CP & Merkelz R.(1999) Short report: A focus of
Leishmania mexicana near Tucson, Arizona Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 61,
378-379.
;McHugh CP, Grogl M & Kerr SF.(1990) Isolation of Leishmania mexicana
from Neotoma micropus collected in Texas J. Parasitol., 76, 741-742.
Kerr SF, McHugh CP & Dronen NO Jr.(1995) Leishmaniasis in Texas:
prevalence and seasonal transmission of Leishmania mexicana in Neotoma
micropus Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 53, 73-77.

There have been at least two cases of leishmaniasis in dogs with no
known travel history in Britain. Also at least one case in a dog that
lived with a dog that had developed the infection in Spain. 
Mechanical transmission has also been reported in laboratory animals
both by other biting flies and by direct contact.
Lainson R & Southgate BA.(1965) Mechanical transmission of Leishmania
mexicana by Stomoxys calcitrans Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg., 59, 716.
; Lainson R & Bray S.(1964) Transmission of Leishmania mexicana among
laboratory hamsters in the absence of an insect vector Trans. R. Soc.
Trop. Med. Hyg., 58, 287.

However despite all that transmission by these means is exceedingly rare
and  is still almost inconceivable at a dog show. 


Harry Noyes 
University ofLiverpool 
School of Biological Sciences
Donnan Laboratory
Crown St.
Liverpool
L69 7ZD
UK

Tel +44 151 794 3627
Fax +44 151 794 3655
email harry at liv.ac.uk
www  http://www.liv.ac.uk/~kempsj/genomics.html


On Wed, 26 Apr 2000, Jeffrey Shaw wrote:

>[The comments below are important but do not explain the infection of a
>number of foxhounds in New York State or other regions recorded in the past
>in    which there is no history of travel to endemic areas- Comment JJS ]
>
>
>Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 22:06:47 -0400 (EDT)
>From: ProMED-mail <promed at promed.isid.harvard.edu>
>Subject: PRO/AH> Leishmaniasis, dogs - USA (02)
>
>LEISHMANIASIS, DOGS - USA (02)
>******************************
>A ProMED- mail post
><http://www.promedmail.org>
>
>[see also:
>Leishmaniasis, dogs - USA: RFI                         20000422235237]
>
>Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 14:27:32 -0400
>From: Ellicott McConnell <eck at shore.intercom.net>
>
>
>I find it strange that fear of leishmaniasis transmission seems to have
>resulted in the cancellation of dog shows in Pennsylvania. To my knowledge,
>transmission outside of the laboratory occurs only from the bite of
>phlebotomine sandflies. Surely this information is easily available to
>those local veterinarians who must have been consulted. For that matter,
>Pennsylvania seems an odd location for people to be concerned about
>leishmaniasis. If the disease were to occur in dogs in the United States it
>would be much more likely to show up in the Southwest.
>
>- --
>Ellicott McConnell
>e-mail: eck at shore.intercom.net
>
>******
>[2]
>Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 21:37:13 +0000
>From: Randall Ruble <rruble at home.com>
>
>
>I may be mistaken as I am not an entomologist, but to the best of my
>knowledge there are no sand flies in the continental US and sand flies are
>the vector for leishmaniasis.  (References provided below.) 
>
>Dogs are involved as one of the mammalian reservoirs of the
>Mediterranean/Central Asian form of leishmaniasis caused by _L. donovani_.
>This may be the partial origin of the concern.
>
>Speculatively it might be possible for a dog with an open wound coming in
>contact with another dog with an open cutaneous lesion from _Leishmania_
>spp.  to contract the disease this way. So it might be conceivable that a
>dog from one of the Mediterranean countries visiting the dog show could
>carry a minor risk to other dogs. But this risk seems very minimal as most
>dogs with any type of wound, illness or any other type of blemish are
>usually excluded from the show.
>
>Best of luck trying to convince someone that something doesn't exist. Much
>easier to create fear than to allay it.
>
>References:
>Beaver PC, Jung RC, Cupp EW (1984) Clinical Parasitology. Lea & Febiger,
>Philadelphia, PA p55-77.
>
>Despommier DD, Karapelou JW (1987) Parasite Life Cycles. Springer-Verlag,
>NY and Berlin p 12-17.
>
>Goldsmith R, Heyneman D (1989) Tropical Medicine and Parasitology. Appleton
>& Lange, Norwalk, CT p276-302.
>
>Warren KS, Mahmoud AAF (1990) Tropical and Geographical Medicine.
>McGraw-Hill, NY, p296-308.
>
>- --
>Randall Ruble, DVM, MPVM, PhD
>e-mail: rruble at home.com
>        rpruble at strategicbio.com
>
>