O conhecimento sobre leishmaniose visceral: Suficiente para controle e prevenção?

• Autor(a) principal: Paulan, Silvana Cassia [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: Silva, Diogo Tiago [UNESP], Lins, Aline Gouveia de Souza [UNESP], Lima, Flavia Luna, Tenório, Michely Silva [UNESP], Tasca, Karen Ingrid [UNESP], Panosso, Alan Rodrigo [UNESP], Starke-Buzetti, Wilma Aparecida [UNESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://ojs.unesp.br/index.php/revista_proex/article/view/1314; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/143260
• topic: Leishmania; Dogs; Questionnaire; ELISA; Rural settlement; Leishmania; Perros; Cuestionario; ELISA; Asentamiento rural; Biológicas; Ciências agrárias e veterinárias; Leishmania; Cães; Questionário; ELISA; Assentamento rural

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a zoonosis with cosmopolitan distribution and responsible for millions of cases in humans every year, is due to protozoans of the genus Leishmania as the etiological agent, with transmission occurring via the bites of sandflies (phlebotomines). Changes in the environment, such as deforestation and the expansion of urban areas to the edges of woods, amongst others, have led to urbanization of the parasite and increased risk of human infection. The aims of this study were to: i) evaluate the knowledge of families living in the rural settlement "Estrela da Ilha" of Ilha Solteira (São Paulo State) in relation to LV, ii) diagnose canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) in the family dogs, and iii) submit the data obtained to dependency analysis using the Chi-squared test and Fischer’s exact test (p ≤ 0.05), in order to determine whether such knowledge is sufficient for the control and prevention of this zoonosis in the rural environment. For this study, 39 families were interviewed using questionnaires, and blood samples from 93 dogs were collected and submitted to an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of anti-Leishmania antibodies. 25.8% (24/93) of the dogs were positive for CVL, and 46.15% (18/39) of the families owned these infected dogs. The results of the Fischer test showed dependence between the variables "dogs of the families with LVC" and both "attitudes of families faced with a suspected case of LVC" (p = 0.0076) and "how may the population contribute to the control of CVL" (p = 0.0457). In both evaluations, larger percentages of the families knew the answer as to how to proceed, but this knowledge was not sufficient to reduce the numbers of infected dogs in their homes. The variable "dogs of the families with LVC" was also correlated with a lack of knowledge of the families concerning the "vector feeding period" (p = 0.0312). It is concluded that the rural families of this study possessed fragmented knowledge of the disease, resulting in inefficient prophylactic practices against LVC. The lack of collective actions based on adequate knowledge and basic preventive measures could increase the risk of cases of leishmaniasis in humans and dogs in this rural area.