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Asymptomatic Leishmania infection in blood donors from the Southern of Spain

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Abstract

Objectives

To investigate the proportion of asymptomatic infection among blood donors in a region endemic for Leishmania; and to ascertain epidemiological and genetic factors associated with this condition.

Methods

We studied 1260 blood donors in the Province of Granada in the Southern Spain. After obtaining informed consent in each participant, a poll about habits, housing and contact with animals were carried out. Blood samples were obtained for determining antileishmanial antibodies and a PCR assay. HLA typing was performed in a randomly sample among the donors with positive serology.

Results

We have found that L. infantum antibodies were present in 7.9% of blood donors and DNA in blood was detected in 2.5% of donors. There was no concordance between both determinations, except in one patient. Taking into consideration both techniques, 129 participants were considered to have asymptomatic Leishmania infection. No participant in this study developed clinical leishmaniasis during a follow-up period of 2 years. HLA were typed in 51 donors. Asymptomatic Leishmania infection might be associated with certain HLA antigens. A multivariate analysis was done with the variables obtained through the participants’ interview. The contact with livestock (goats, pigs, and sheep), but not dogs, either at home or in the environment, was significantly and independently associated with asymptomatic leishmania infection.

Conclusions

Asymptomatic leishmanial infection among blood donors is frequent in the Granada Province, south of Spain. The presence of livestock in this region is related to this infection, perhaps influencing vector density of this disease. Some HLA genes might be associated with asymptomatic leishmanial state.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude for the blood donors who kindly agreed to participate in the study and to the Centro Regional de Transfusión Sanguínea de Granada for its invaluable cooperation. We would like to thank Dr. Maite Miranda for her assistance in statistical analysis as well as to Mr Tom Stoelers for his English correction of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by grant from the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS) del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain) (Expediente Nº PI14/01024).

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Correspondence to Fernando Cobo.

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Aliaga, L., Ceballos, J., Sampedro, A. et al. Asymptomatic Leishmania infection in blood donors from the Southern of Spain. Infection 47, 739–747 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-019-01297-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-019-01297-3

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