OBJECTIVES Human leishmaniasis can be severe and fatal, yet in the Mediterranean region only a small percentage of infections progress to clinical disease. We evaluated the percentage of asymptomatic Leishmania infection in the Bologna province, northeastern Italy. METHODS We examined the presence of specific antibodies by Western Blot (WB) and parasitic DNA by real time PCR in peripheral blood of 240 blood donors residing in the Bologna province. RESULTS Anti-Leishmania IgG were detected by WB in 27 subjects (11.2%, 95% CI 7%-15%), while Leishmania kinetoplast DNA was detected in peripheral blood specimens of 4 out of 240 donors (1.7%, 95% CI 0.2%-3.2%). Overall, the prevalence of Leishmania infection in the blood donor cohort was 12.5%, thus indicating an elevated cumulative exposure to the Leishmania parasite in the examined municipality. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that a surveillance system for monitoring Leishmania infection in blood donors and/or strategies of protozoan inactivation in whole blood should be taken into consideration in areas with circulation of the Leishmania parasite.

中文翻译：

---

生活在意大利东北部地区的献血者中无症状的婴儿利什曼原虫感染。

目的人类利什曼病可能是严重的和致命的，但在地中海地区，只有一小部分感染发展为临床疾病。我们评估了意大利东北部博洛尼亚省无症状利什曼原虫感染的百分比。方法我们通过实时荧光定量PCR检测了博洛尼亚省240名献血者外周血中Western Blot（WB）和寄生虫DNA的特异性抗体的存在。结果WB在27位受试者中检出了抗利什曼原虫IgG（11.2％，95％CI 7％-15％），而在240名捐献者中有4名的外周血标本中检出了利什曼原虫Kinetoplast DNA（1.7％，95％CI 0.2 ％-3.2％）。总体而言，献血者人群中利什曼原虫感染的患病率为12.5％，因此表明在所检查的市镇中，利什曼原虫寄生虫的累积暴露水平升高。