ABSTRACT
Background: Visceral leishmaniasis [VL], caused by Leishmania infantum [L. infantum], is a life-threatening vector-borne parasitic disease is distributed in some parts of the world. The disease is endemic in some parts of Iran. This study was aimed to determine the seroprevalence of VL among children and domestic dogs [as a reservoir of the parasite] in Dehloran, west of Iran
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in Dehloran County. The blood samples of 872 children up to 12 years old and 52 dogs were collected from 10 villages of Dehloran using randomly-clustered sampling method. Sera were separated from all peripheral blood samples and tested by direct agglutination test [DAT]. Anti-Leishmania infantum antibodies at titers of >/=1:800 and >/=1:80 were considered as Leishmania infantum infection in human and dog, respectively
Results: In general, among 872 human samples, 1.03% of samples had anti-Leishmania antibody with 1:1600 titers and 1.26% had 1:800 titers. In addition, from 52 dog samples, 21.15% of dogs had a titer of >/=1:320 and 25% had 1:80 and 1:160 titers
Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the seropositive dogs in the studied areas are considerable and L. infantum may be circulated between human and domestic dog in the studied area. Further study of isolation and molecular identification of Leishmania spp. is recommended