Leishmania donovani

Sadlova, Jovana, Vojtkova, Barbora, Becvar, Tomas, Lestinova, Tereza, Spitzova, Tatiana, Bates, Paul & Volf, Petr, 2020, Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 11, pp. 40-45 : 42

3.1. Experimental infections with L. donovani

In total, 8 M. natalensis, 7 A. neumanni and 10 A. niloticus were infected by L. donovani ; all M. natalensis , all A. neumanni and five A. niloticus with sand fly-derived Leishmania , while five A. niloticus were infected with culture-derived Leishmania . Two animals of each species served as controls inoculated with sterile saline.

None of the inoculated animals developed lesions or other external signs of the disease throughout the entire experiment. The weight of animals did not differ significantly between infected animals and uninfected controls (P = 0.126, P = 0.446 and P = 0.382 in A. niloticus , A. neumanni and M. natalensis , respectively) (S1 Table). All 100, 194

and 251 P. orientalis females used at different times p.i. for xenodiagnoses on M. natalensis , A. neumanni and A. niloticus , respectively, were Leishmania -negative.

Nevertheless, PCR performed at the end of the experiment, on week 30 p. i., revealed presence of L. donovani in different tissues and organs of infected rodents; the quantities of parasites were subsequently determined using qPCR. High parasite loads were found in the lymph node draining the inoculated ear of one A. neumanni and low parasite loads in forepaws and the inoculated ear of three A. niloticus ( Table 1). The parasite loads in M. natalensis were the highest among tested rodent species. Half of the animals maintained L. donovani until week 30 p. i., with parasites localized mostly in liver, spleen and paws. An inoculated ear was positive in one specimen and draining lymph nodes in two animals. High parasite burdens were detected only in the spleen and liver. No parasites were detected in the right ear, tail or blood ( Table 1).