Veterinary Parasitology 174 (2010) 150–154 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Veterinary Parasitology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/vetpar Short communication First report of infection of Lutzomyia longipalpis by Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum from a naturally infected cat of Brazil Sydnei Magno da Silva a,*,1 , Priscila Fonte Boa Rabelo b,1 , Nelder de Figueiredo Gontijo a , Raul Rio Ribeiro c , Maria Norma Melo a , Vitor Marcio Ribeiro b , Marilene Suzan Marques Michalick a,d a Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627 Pampulha, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil b Escola de Veterinária, Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Betim, MG, Brazil c Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Ambientais e Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, Cruz das Almas, BA, Brazil d Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade FUMEC, Nova Lima, MG, Brazil article info Article history: Received 26 April 2010 Received in revised form 27 July 2010 Accepted 5 August 2010 Keywords: Leishmania infantum Feline visceral leishmaniasis Lutzomyia longipalpis Cat (Felis catus domesticus) Xenodiagnosis abstract In recent years, cases of feline visceral leishmaniasis (FVL) have been described in different countries. In urban areas, domestic cats are suggested as possible alternative reservoirs of Leishmania (L.) infantum, the causal agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). This paper reports the first case of infection of Lutzomyia longipalpis by L. infantum of a naturally infected cat from Brazil through xenodiagnosis. The presence of a cat with FVL and its infectivity to the natural vector in Belo Horizonte city, an endemic area of VL in Brazil, suggests the need for further studies to determine the rate of occurrence of FVL among domestic cats and the infectivity ratio of L. longipalpis in endemic areas, and what is the role of these animals in the epidemiology of the disease. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a parasitic disease of humans present in countries of the Mediterranean basin, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The disease is endemic in 65 countries and >90% of the 500,000 cases per year world- wide occur in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil (Desjeux, 2004). It is estimated that VL leads to approxi- mately 59,000 mortalities per year (Alvar et al., 2006). In Brazil, the disease is an endemic zoonosis caused by the parasitic protozoa Leishmania (L.) infantum syn. Leish- mania (L.) chagasi (Laison and Rangel, 2005). Domestic dogs are the most important urban reservoirs of L. infantum, and * Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 31 34092869; fax: +55 31 34092852. E-mail addresses: sydmagno@yahoo.com, sydvet@hotmail.com (S.M. da Silva). 1 These authors contributed equally to this work. the transmission of the parasites to man and dog occurs through bites by infected females of the genus Lutzomyia (Diptera: Psychodidae; Phlebotominae), with Lutzomyia longipalpis being the most important vector of the parasite in Brazil (Laison and Rangel, 2005). In urban areas of Brazil where VL is highly prevalent, the culling of dogs affected by canine visceral leishmania- sis (CVL) represents an important target for the control of the disease (Maia-Elkhoury et al., 2008; Ministry of Health, 2006). Despite the control measures used by the Brazilian public health system, the prevalence of the infection among dogs and the number of human cases of VL has increased in the last years (Dantas-Torres and Brandão-Filho, 2006). Authors have suggested the participation of synan- thropic mammals, such as opossums and rats, and domestic cats as alternative reservoirs of L. infantum in urban areas (Maroli et al., 2007; Dantas-Torres and Brandão-Filho, 2006; Poli et al., 2002; Schallig et al., 2007; Oliveira et al., 2005). In this context, domestic cats (Felis catus domesti- 0304-4017/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2010.08.005