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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz
ISSN: 1678-8060 EISSN: 1678-8060
Vol. 96, No. 3, 2001, pp. 285-291
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Bioline Code: oc01042
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Vol. 96, No. 3, 2001, pp. 285-291
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Visceral Leishmaniasis in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Eduardo S Silva; Célia MF Gontijo; Raquel S Pacheco; Vanessa OP Fiuza & Reginaldo P Brazil
Abstract
In the last few years the number of human cases of American visceral leishmaniasis in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte (MRBH), Minas Gerais, Brazil has increased, indicating an elevation in the transmission rate of the disease. The total number of notified human cases in the MRBH since 1994, when the first case was identified, up to 1999 was 345 of which 223 (65%) were from the city itself, indicating an urbanization of the disease in this region of Minas Gerais. The age distribution of visceral leishmaniasis cases in the MRBH shows a higher prevalence in children from 0-4 years old, responsible for 28.9% of the notifications. Clinical and immunological findings from dogs infected with Leishmania chagasi are described. The majority of these animals showed no sign of the disease. Sera from all infected dogs showed detectable Leishmania-induced high titles of antibodies based on the results of an indirect fluorescent antibody test. Samples of isolated Leishmania from human and dogs were characterized as L. (L.) chagasi by biochemical and molecular techniques.
Keywords
visceral leishmaniasis, epidemiology, human, dogs, Leishmania chagasi, Minas Gerais, Brazil
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