Abstract:
Leishmaniasis is a chronic global arthropod-borne zoonotic disease produced by several species of Leishmania with cutaneous,
mucocutaneous, and visceral clinical manifestations. In Spain, only Leishmania infantum has been reported so far, although other
species of Leishmania, such as L. tropica and L. major, are present in surrounding countries. The aim of this work is to analyze the
occurrence of Leishmania spp. infection in European wildcats (Felis silvestris) as sentinels, including their genotypic characterization.
Necropsies of 18 road-killed wildcats were conducted. Samples of ear skin and spleen were taken for DNA isolation and PCR
of the highly sensitive SSU-rDNA target. Subsequent PCR tests were performed using more specific targets for the determination of
Leishmania species: hsp70 and ITS1. Positive samples were sequenced, and phylogenetic trees were constructed. Seven wildcats
were found positive for Leishmania spp. Based on the hsp70 and ITS1 sequences, an animal was found to be infected only with
L. tropica in ear skin samples, while two cats were found to be infected with L. infantum in both the ear skin and the spleen. In one
animal, a clear sequence of L. infantum ITS1 a...