J Parasit Dis (Apr-June 2016) 40(2):510–514
DOI 10.1007/s12639-014-0535-2
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Seroprevalence of canine leishmaniasis in Kwara, Oyo and Ogun
states of Nigeria
Oyeduntan Adejoju Adediran • Temitope U. Kolapo •
Emmanuel C. Uwalaka
Received: 6 November 2013 / Accepted: 16 August 2014 / Published online: 5 September 2014
 Indian Society for Parasitology 2014
Abstract Leishmaniasis is an important tropical disease complex of diseases caused by at least 17 species of the
that is gradually gaining attention in Nigeria. The canine protozoan parasite Leishmania (Croft and Coombs, 2003)
species which include domestic dogs have been named the which belong to the Family Trypanosomatidae and cause
reservoir host for the zoonotic form of leishmaniasis. The high levels of varying clinical syndromes (Vannier-Santos
present study was carried out to determine the seropreva- et al. 2002). The leishmania parasite’s life cycle incorpo-
lence of canine leishmaniasis in three selected states of rates Diptera flies of the family Psychodidae, the phlebot-
Nigeria using indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay omine sandflies (Mazloumi Gavgani et al. 2002; da Costa-
(ELISA). Two hundred and seventy-three canine sera were Val et al. 2007), and the presence of domestic dogs (Canis
tested for Leishmania IgG antibodies. Dogs sampled were familaris) cohabiting with humans aids the human disease
grouped into young (\1 year) and adult ([1 year). Total thus making leishmaniasis a zoonotic infection. The dis-
prevalence recorded was 4.40 % (12/273). There was no ease affects around 12 million people worldwide, with an
significant difference (P[ 0.05) between sera of hunting annual incidence of approximately two million new cases
(4.83 %) and companion dogs (3.03 %). Furthermore, and 350 million are living at risk of being infected (World
there was no significant difference (P[ 0.05) between Health Organisation 2010). Traditionally, leishmaniasis has
young and adults dogs. There was no correlation between been classified into three clinical forms; cutaneous (CL),
sex and prevalence of canine leishmaniasis. However, mucocutaneous (ML) also known as espundia and visceral
significant difference (P\ 0.05) was observed in the (VL) also known as the Kala-azar leishmaniasis. The
prevalence of each state with Kwara, Oyo and Ogun having effects of leishmaniasis range from simple cutaneous ulcers
14.63, 3.33 and 1.32 % respectively. The result of this to massive destruction in CL and subcutaneous tissues in
study established the presence of canine leishmaniasis in ML. A recent addition to the classification is the post Kala-
Oyo, Ogun and Kwara States of Nigeria making the zoo- azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL). However, clinical fea-
notic form of the disease a possibility. tures of leishmaniasis are highly variable due to the inter-
play of numerous factors in the parasites, vectors, host and
Keywords Leishmaniasis  Sero-prevalence  environments involved (Murray et al. 2005).
Reservoir host  ELISA Although leishmaniasis is endemic in West Africa
(Hamed and Velema 1999) it is one of the less recognized
Introduction or under-reported parasitic infections in this region (Des-
jeux et al. 1981). In Nigeria, the first report of leishmani-
Leishmaniasis is a major public health problem as identi- asis in human was carried out by Dyce-Shar (1924) and
fied by the World Health Organisation (2010). They are a since then reports on this disease have been scarce. A
number of human cases have been reported in the Northern
part of Nigeria (Elmes and Hall 1944; Obasi 1991; Badmos
O. A. Adediran (&)  T. U. Kolapo  E. C. Uwalaka
et al. 2005; Igbe et al. 2009). Uloko et al. 2010 reported a
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Parasitology,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria co-infection of cutaneous leishmaniasis, with Human
e-mail: oye_adediran@yahoo.com Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV).
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J Parasit Dis (Apr-June 2016) 40(2):510–514 511
Other African countries with reported cases of leish- keeping (hunting or companion), and location (rural or
maniasis include Senegal, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and urban). Samples were collected between December 2012
recently Ghana in 1999 (Baneth 2006). Apart from the case and April 2013. Blood (3 ml) was collected via the
of canine leishmaniasis reported in a dog in The Gambia in cephalic vein of each dog into plain bottles without anti-
the 1980s, there has been paucity of information on canine coagulant, this was allowed to clot by sitting it undisturbed
leishmaniasis in Africa. Outside Africa, endemicity of on the laboratory bench for 30 min then centrifuged at
canine leishmaniasis has been reported in Mediterranean 1,500 revolution per minute for 10 min and the separated
Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Central and South sera were put in micro centrifuge tubes and stored at
America (Bettini and Gradoni 1986, Ferrer et al. 1988; -20 C until analysed (Henry 1979; Thavasu et al. 1992).
Quinnell and Courtenay 2009).
In Nigeria today, most rural dwellers engage in hunting Serological analysis
as a means of livelihood or for fun, while urban dwellers
keep dogs as guards and pets. There has also been a surge The prevalence of leishmaniasis was determined using
in the co-infection between Leishmania and acquired indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
immune deficiency syndrome thus complicating leish- technique to detect antibody against the disease. A com-
maniasis (Singh 2004) and making it an AIDS defining mercial kit (GenWay, Leishmania Canine IgG-ELISA by
illness. This is the first investigation of canine leishmani- GenWay Biotech, Inc. San Diego, CA 92121) was used and
asis in the three states in South Western Nigeria namely tests carried out according to manufacturer’s protocol.
Kwara, Oyo, and Ogun States. This study also identified Calculating results in the GenWay Units, cut-off was set at
the risk posed to humans by the infection due to close 10NTU while [12NTU was considered positive as pre-
contact with dogs since some dogs are asymptomatic even scribed by the kit manufacturer.
when infected and may be a source of transmission to sand
flies (Cavaliero et al. 1999; Reis et al. 2006 and Moshfe Statistical analysis
et al. 2008).
Statistical analysis was done using Graph pad prism (ver-
sion 5) with a P value of\0.05 as statistically significant.
Materials and methods Chi square tests (x2) were conducted to test for significant
difference in prevalence of leishmaniasis among hunting
Study area dogs in the three states. Fisher’s exact test was used to
examine the relationship between sex, age, use of dog
The investigation was carried out in hunting communities (hunting or companion) and prevalence of canine
in Oyo (8N, 4E of Nigeria, average daily temperature of leishmaniasis.
between 25 and 35 C almost throughout the year), Ogun
(7N, 3350E of Nigeria, with similar daily temperature as
that of Oyo) and Kwara (8300N, 5E, average daily tem- Results
perature of between 30 and 35 C) States of Nigeria. The
choice of these locations was based on accessibility as Demographic information
there were limitations due to the fact that most rural
dwellers in Nigeria are superstitious and convincing them The collation of qualitative variables showed that 207
to have blood samples taken from their dogs was difficult; hunting dogs and 66 companion dogs were used for the
there were some who refused out rightly. Companion dogs study. All the companion dogs were from Oyo state
used for the study were from the Veterinary teaching (referral veterinary hospitals in Ibadan). Of the 207 hunting
Hospital of the University of Ibadan and the State Veteri- dogs, 90 were from Oyo state, 76 from Ogun State and 41
nary Hospital in Ibadan, Oyo State both of which are from Kwara State. In all there were 152 females (134
referral Veterinary Hospitals for the south western states of adults, 18 young) and 121 males (93 adults, 28 young).
the country.
Serological evaluation
Sample collection and dog’s demographic information
Total seroprevalence rate was 4.4 % (12/273). Of the 207
The study was carried out on 273 dogs (207 rural hunting hunting dogs sampled, 4.43 % (10/207) was found to be
and 66 urban companion dogs). Demographic factors sero-positive while 3.03 % (2/66) companion dogs were
considered during sampling were age (young: \1 year, sero-positive with no significant difference (P[ 0.05)
adult: [1 year), sex (male or female), purpose of dog (Table 1). Percentage sero-positivity was significantly
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Table 1 Sero-prevalence of companion and hunting dogs for been scanty and the few reports available in humans are
leishmaniasis from the Northern part of the country (Elmes and Hall
Use No of dogs sampled No of positives Prevalence rate 1944; Obasi 1991; Igbe et al. 2009). In most endemic
countries, domestic dogs (canis familaris) are the reservoir
Hunting 207 10 4.83 host of the disease (Gavgani et al. 2002; Mohebali et al.
Companion 66 2 3.03 2005), the presence of antibodies in dogs as we found will
Total 273 12 4.40 suggest that dogs in Nigeria are suspect as reservoir hosts.
Although antibodies may not expressly be indicative of
Table 2 Sero-prevalence of canine leishmaniasis in hunting dogs in current infection, it however reveals that there has been
the states some exposure to the causative agent. Serological methods
State No of dogs sampled No. of positives Prevalence for the diagnosis of leishmaniasis have been found to be
comparatively more suited for diagnosing visceral leish-
Oyo 90 3 3.33
maniasis in endemic regions (Alborzi et al. 2007), thus
Ogun 76 1 1.32
improving the reliability of the results in the absence of
Kwara 41 6 14.63
physical symptoms.
Total 207 10 4.83
Sand flies the insect vector of the disease thrives in an
environment of warm climatic conditions such as is found
Table 3 Sero-prevalence of canine leishmaniasis in the sexes
in the states sampled and with the recent climatic changes
Sex No of dogs sampled No of positives Prevalence and global warming, determination of the prevalence of
Female 152 7 4.61 canine leishmaniasis is necessary in order to set control
measures against the zoonotic form of the disease (Tesh
Male 121 5 4.13
1995). Average daily temperature in Kwara state may be
Total 273 12 4.40
as high as 38 C compared to 35 C in Oyo and Ogun
states and it has been suggested that climatic factors may
different (P\ 0.05) for hunting dogs in Oyo, Ogun and have an effect on the prevalence of canine leishmaniasis
Kwara States and was 3.33, 1.32 and 14.63 % respectively especially visceral (Heidarpour et al. 2014) with higher
(Table 2). Of the 46 young dogs sampled, none was found prevalence occurring in the warm climatic region while
to be sero-positive, while 12 of the 227 adult dogs sampled lower prevalence occurs in the cold climatic region. This
were sero-positive. However there was no significant dif- coupled with the abundance of rodent burrows in Kwara
ference (P[ 0.05) between the two groups. No significant state (personal communication) which has been identified
difference was observed between the sexes, (P[ 0.05), as breeding site of the phlebotomine flies (Mascari et al.
4.61 % in all females and 4.13 % in all males sampled 2013) may be responsible for the higher seroprevalence
(Table 3). Ten hunting dogs (4.8 %) and two companion obtained in dogs in the state. Lifestyle and exposure to
dogs (3.0 %) were seropositive (Table 4). There was no sandflies are the most important factors in predisposition
significant difference (P[ 0.05) between sero-positivity in of dogs to leishmania infection (Ferrer 1992), hence the
male and female in hunting and companion dog category higher prevalence of 4.83 % in hunting as against 3.03 %
(Table 4). in companion is probably due to the fact that hunting
dogs are more exposed to sand flies because of their
activities in the bush. However, there was no significant
Discussion difference between hunting and companion dogs. This
may be explained by the fact that some companion dogs
This study provides serological evidence of canine leish- in Nigeria are not completely confined hence they have
maniasis in Nigeria where information on the disease have access to bushes and forest harbouring sand flies around
Table 4 Seroprevalence of canine leishmaniasis in different age groups
Category Hunting No positive Prevalence (%) Companion No positive Prevalence (%)
Adult female 114 6 5.3 20 1 5.0
Adult male 70 4 5.7 23 1 4.4
Young female 13 0 0.0 5 0 0.0
Young male 10 0 0.0 18 0 0.0
Total 207 10 4.8 66 2 3.0
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