ABSTRACT
Visceral leishmaniasis is an uncommon disease in transplant recipients; however, if left untreated, the mortality can be high. If an organ donor or recipient is known to be an asymptomatic Leishmania spp. carrier,monitoring is advised. This study proposes to assess the prevalence of asymptomatic Leishmania spp.infection in liver transplant donors and recipients from an endemic area. A total of 50 liver recipients and 17 liver donors were evaluated by direct parasite search, indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), anti-Leishmania rK39 rapid test and Leishmania spp.DNA detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Leishmania spp. amastigotes were not observed in liver or spleen tissues. Of the 67 serum samples, IFAT was reactive in 1.5% and indeterminate for 17.9%, and the anti-Leishmania rK39 rapid test was negative for all samples. The PCR test was positive for 7.5%, 8.9%, and 5.9% of blood, liver and spleen samples, respectively(accounting for 23.5% of the donors and 8% of the recipients). Leishmania infantum-specific PCR confirmed all positive samples. In conclusion, a high prevalence of asymptomatic L. infantum was observed in donors and recipients from an endemic area, and PCR was the most sensitive method for screening these individuals.
Subject(s)
Leishmaniasis, Visceral/epidemiology , Liver Transplantation/adverse effects , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Brazil/epidemiology , Child , Child, Preschool , Cross-Sectional Studies , DNA, Protozoan/analysis , Female , Fluorescent Antibody Technique , Humans , Leishmania/genetics , Leishmania infantum/immunology , Leishmaniasis, Visceral/diagnosis , Male , Middle Aged , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Prevalence , Prospective Studies , Tissue DonorsABSTRACT
Bovine herpesvirus type 5 (BoHV-5), which is potentially neuropathogenic, was detected in clinical samples of bovine semen, both directly and after isolation in cell culture, using a nested PCR system for amplifying the US4 gene. Nucleotide sequences generated from the amplicons were analysed and deposited at GenBank (NCBI, Bethesda, MD, USA) under the accession numbers AF298174 and AF330157. Alignment of these sequences and previously deposited sequences of BoHV-1 and BoHV-5 showed 82% and 98% similarity, respectively. The bulls, which were maintained at an artificial insemination centre, had presented no clinical signs, indicating that bovine semen should be screened for BoHV-5 to prevent transmission of the virus.
Subject(s)
Cattle Diseases/virology , Herpesviridae Infections/veterinary , Herpesvirus 5, Bovine/genetics , Semen/virology , Viral Proteins/genetics , Agglutination Tests/veterinary , Animals , Antibodies, Viral/blood , Base Sequence , Cattle , DNA, Viral/chemistry , DNA, Viral/genetics , Gene Amplification , Herpesviridae Infections/genetics , Male , Molecular Sequence Data , Phylogeny , Polymerase Chain Reaction/veterinary , Sequence Alignment , Viral Proteins/chemistryABSTRACT
This paper reports the detection of bovine herpesvirus type 5 (BoHV-5) by a specific nested PCR assay. Samples were collected from the central nervous system (CNS) of cattle from Minas Gerais and São Paulo States, Brazil. All animals died presenting neurological symptoms. Nineteen frozen CNS samples analyzed had been previously tested by fluorescence antibody test for rabies virus and showed negative results. Three paraffin-embedded brain tissue samples were examined by histopatology and the observed alterations suggested nonsuppurative meningoencephalitis. BoHV-5 was detected in five (22.7 percent) among 22 tested samples. The occurrence of BoHV-5 infection is reported in the Southeast region of Brazil, indicating that epidemiological studies should be carried out
