CANINE VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS AND HUMAN VISCERAL AT CARUARU, BRAZIL, IN THE PERIOD 2005 TO 2010

Abstract

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a neglected zoonosis of great importance in public health. The municipal area of Caruaru, as well as other local areas of Brazil presented increasing prevalence rates of this illness. This current assignment was created with the purpose of analyzing and reporting the high rates observed in dogs exhibiting seroconversion for Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis (CVL) and the occurrence of Visceral Leishmaniasis cases in humans within the entire municipal area of Caruaru (rural and urban), as well as the evaluation of practices and strategies in the VL control program during the period between January 2005 and December 2010. An increase in the number of seropositive dogs was verified in a retrospective descriptive study of CVL, from 1.4% (24/1,671) in 2005 to 31.9% (347/1,174) in 2010. With reference to the euthanasia program executed on the seropositive animals in the municipal area, only 44.3% (557/1,258) were eliminated during that period, revealing such a program as ineffective in preventing dissemination of this disease. A second descriptive study was also performed on human cases of VL, notified by the Sistema de Informação
de Agravos e Notificação (SINAN), revealing that out of the 29 notifications in the studied period, 15 (51.7%) of them originated in the rural area and 14 (48.3%) originated in urban areas. Therefore, it may be observed that the zoonosis has demonstrated growth that is not limited to rural areas, and that the process of urbanization has brought changes in regards to the epidemiological behavior of
the disease including the city of Caruaru-PE.