Wild mammals are susceptible to infection by Leishmania parasites. Although canine leishmaniasis is widely distributed in mainland Portugal, the sylvatic cycle of the parasite remains poorly understood. In this study, the occurrence of L. infantum in wild carnivores from Portugal was assessed by molecular screening of 132 hunted or accidentally road-killed animals. Spleen samples from Egyptian mongoose, red fox, stone marten, common genet and European badger were tested by amplification of Leishmania kinetoplastid DNA and ITS1. Five egyptian mongoose were confirmed Leishmania DNA-positive by kDNA-PCR. Phylogenetic analysis of a kDNA amplicon sequence clustered the strain with L. infantum sequences from Portugal. These results may suggest that L. infantum strains circulating in wild animals are genetically related with strains from more humanized settings. Exposure of wild carnivores to Leishmania infantum emphasizes the need of systematic studies to clarify the role of several taxa in the eco-epidemiology of leishmaniasis in Portugal, particularly in areas of carnivore species synanthropy and wherein disease control in the domestic population is inefficient or insufficient.

中文翻译：

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散养埃及猫鼬（Herpestes ichneumon）中婴儿利什曼原虫的分子检测和表征。

野生哺乳动物易受利什曼原虫寄生虫感染。尽管犬利什曼病在葡萄牙大陆广泛分布，但对寄生虫的sylvatic循环仍知之甚少。在这项研究中，通过对132只被猎杀或意外杀死的动物进行分子筛查，评估了葡萄牙野生肉食动物中婴儿乳杆菌的发生。通过扩增利什曼原虫的动质体DNA和ITS1，测试了来自埃及猫鼬，赤狐，石貂，普通种和欧洲badge的脾脏样品。通过kDNA-PCR确认了五个埃及猫鼬利什曼原虫DNA阳性。对kDNA扩增子序列的系统发生分析将菌株与来自葡萄牙的婴儿乳杆菌序列聚在一起。这些结果可能表明L。在野生动物中传播的婴儿毒株与人性化程度更高的毒株在遗传上相关。将野生食肉动物暴露于婴儿利什曼原虫强调了有系统的研究需要澄清几种分类单元在葡萄牙利什曼病的生态流行病学中的作用，尤其是在食肉动物物种同养领域，以及其国内人口疾病控制效率低下或不足的地区。