Canine leishmaniosis in South America

Parasites & Vectors

Table 1 Leishmania species infecting dogs in South America.

Species	Disease form	Suspected/proven vectors^a	Geographical distribution
L. amazonensis	Visceral	Unknown	Brazil
L. braziliensis	Cutaneous	Lu. whitmani, among others	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela
L. colombiensis	Visceral	Unknown	Venezuela
L. infantum	Visceral	Lu. longipalpis, Lu. evansi, Lu. youngi, among others	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana^b, Venezuela
L. mexicana	Cutaneous	Lu. ayachuchensis	Ecuador
L. panamensis	Cutaneous	Lu. trapidoi	Colombia, Ecuador
L. peruviana	Cutaneous	Lu. peruensis, Lu. verrucarum	Peru
L. pifanoi	Cutaneous	Unknown	Ecuador

^a Lutzomyia spp. that have been suspected to be involved in the transmission of Leishmania spp. to dogs in South America. Further information on the phlebotomine sand flies have been implicated as vectors of Leishmania spp. in this region can be found elsewhere [15, 23].
^b Autochthonous transmission in French Guiana is uncertain (see text for details).

ISSN: 1756-3305