Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is the most important neglected disease reported in North Africa, Algeria ranks second in the world with more than 5000 cases per year. In Algeria, two rodent species Psammomys obesus and Meriones shawi, are so far known as proven reservoirs of Leishmania major, however, they are absent in several endemic localities. In this study, we experimentally infected Gerbillus rodents trapped around human dwellings in Illizi, Algeria to assess their susceptibility to L. major. Seven gerbils, morphologically and molecularly identified as Gerbillus amoenus, were intradermally inoculated with 104 parasites derived from culture, monitored for six months and their infectiousness for sand flies was tested by xenodiagnosis. The study revealed that G. amoenus was susceptible to L. major and was able to maintain and transmit the parasites to sand flies tested six months after infection, suggesting the role of this gerbil as a potential reservoir for L. major.

Department of Parasitology Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Laboratory Emergent and Reemergent Viruses Institut Pasteur of Algiers Algeria

Laboratory of Parasitic Eco Epidemiology and Genetic of Populations Institut Pasteur of Algiers Algeria

Mouloud Maameri University Department of Biology Ecology and Biology of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Laboratory Tizi Ouzou Algeria

Public Establishment of Nearby Health of Illizi Ibn Sina Algeria

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Abiadh A., Colangelo P., Capanna E., Lamine-Cheniti T., Chetoui M. Morphometric analysis of six Gerbillus species (Rodentia, Gerbillinae) from Tunisia. C R Biol. 2010;333:680–687. doi: 10.1016/J.CRVI.2010.07.003. PubMed DOI

Ahmim M. Les Éditions du Net; 2019. Les mammifères sauvages d'Algérie. Répartition et Biologie de la Conservation. 978-2312068961.hal-02375326.

Aoun K., Bouratbine A. Cutaneous leishmaniasis in North Africa: a review. Parasite. 2014;21 doi: 10.1051/parasite/2014014. PubMed DOI PMC

Azizi K., Moemenbellah-Fard M.D., Fakoorziba M.R., Fekri S. Gerbillus nanus (Rodentia: muridae): a new reservoir host of Leishmania major. Ann. Trop. Med. Parasitol. 2011;105:431. doi: 10.1179/1364859411Y.0000000036. PubMed DOI PMC

Beck H.E., Zimmermann N.E., McVicar T.R., Vergopolan N., Berg A., Wood E.F. Present and future Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1-km resolution. Sci. Data. 2018;5 doi: 10.1038/sdata.2018.214. PubMed DOI PMC

Belazzoug S. Découverte d’un Meriones shawi (rongeur, gerbilidé) natuurellement infesté par Leishmania dans le nouveau foyer de leishmaniose cutanée à Ksar Chellala (Algérie) Bull. Soc. Pathol. Exot. 1986;79:630–633.

Benallal K.E., Garni R., Harrat Z., Volf P., Dvorak V. Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) of the Maghreb region: a systematic review of distribution, morphology, and role in the transmission of the pathogens. PLoS Neglected Trop. Dis. 2022;16 doi: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PNTD.0009952. PubMed DOI PMC

Chaves L.F., Hernandez M.J., Dobson A.P., Pascual M. Sources and sinks: revisiting the criteria for identifying reservoirs for American cutaneous leishmaniasis. Trends Parasitol. 2007;23:311–316. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2007.05.003. PubMed DOI

Dahmana H., Granjon L., Diagne C., Davoust B., Fenollar F., Mediannikov O. Rodents as hosts of pathogens and related zoonotic disease risk. Pathogens. 2020;9 doi: 10.3390/pathogens9030202. PubMed DOI PMC

Ghawar W., Toumi A., Snoussi M.-A., Chlif S., Zâatour A., Boukthir A., Hamida N.B.H., Chemkhi J., Diouani M.F., Ben-Salah A. vol. 11. 2011. pp. 1561–1568. (Leishmania Major Infection Among Psammomys Obesus and Meriones Shawi: Reservoirs of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Sidi Bouzid (Central Tunisia)). home.liebertpub.com/vbz. PubMed DOI PMC

Granjon L., Duplantier J.-M. 2009. Les rongeurs de l'Afrique sahélo-soudanienne, IRD éditio. (Marseille)

Hall T.A. BioEdit: a user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor and analysis Program for windows 95/98/NT. Nucleic Acids Symp. Ser. 1999;41:95–98.

INSP Situation épidémiologique mensuel. 2017. https://www.insp.dz/index.php/Non-categorise/rem.html

Ketamine/Xylazine . 2006. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols 2006. pdb.rec702. DOI

Mihoubi I., de Monbrison F., Romeuf N., Moulahem T., Picot S. Outsourced real-time PCR diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the outbreak region of Constatine, Algeria. Med. Trop. 2006;66:39–44. PubMed

Myskova J., Votypka J., Volf P. Leishmania in sand flies: comparison of quantitative polymerase chain reaction with other techniques to determine the intensity of infection. J. Med. Entomol. 2008;45(1):133–138. PubMed

Ndiaye A., Tatard C., Stanley W., Granjon L. Taxonomic hypotheses regarding the genus Gerbillus (Rodentia, Muridae, Gerbillinae) based on molecular analyses of museum specimens. ZooKeys. 2016;145 doi: 10.3897/ZOOKEYS.566.7317. 2016. PubMed DOI PMC

Rodgers M.R., Popper S.J., Wirth D.F. Amplification of kinetoplast DNA as a tool in the detection and diagnosis of Leishmania. Exp. Parasitol. 1990;71:267–275. doi: 10.1016/0014-4894(90)90031-7. PubMed DOI

Sádlová J., Volf P. Peritrophic matrix of Phlebotomus duboscqi and its kinetics during Leishmania major development. Cell Tissue Res. 2009;337:313–325. doi: 10.1007/s00441-009-0802-1. PubMed DOI PMC

Sadlova J., Vojtkova B., Becvar T., Lestinova T., Spitzova T., Bates P., Volf P. Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana. Int. J. Parasitol. Parasites Wildl. 2020;11:40–45. doi: 10.1016/J.IJPPAW.2019.12.002. PubMed DOI PMC

Schönian G., Nasereddin A., Dinse N., Schweynoch C., Schallig H.D.F.H., Presber W., Jaffe C.L. PCR diagnosis and characterization of Leishmania in local and imported clinical samples. Diagn. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 2003;47:349–358. doi: 10.1016/S0732-8893(03)00093-2. PubMed DOI

Schuster S., Hartley M., Tacchini-Cottier F., Ronet C. A scoring method to standardize lesion monitoring following intra-dermal infection of Leishmania parasites in the murine ear. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 2014;4:1–3. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2014.00067. PubMed DOI PMC

Shenbrot G., Bannikova A., Giraudoux P., Quéré J.P., Raoul F., Lebedev V. A new recent genus and species of three-toed jerboas (Rodentia: dipodinae) from China: a living fossil? J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res. 2017;55:356–368. doi: 10.1111/jzs.12182. DOI

Tabbabi A. Review of leishmaniasis in the middle east and North Africa. Afr. Health Sci. 2019;19:1329–1337. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v19i1.4. PubMed DOI PMC

Tamura K., Stecher G., Kumar S. vol. 38. 2021. pp. 3022–3027. (MEGA11 : Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis Version 11). PubMed DOI PMC

Tomás-Pérez M., Khaldi M., Riera C., Mozo-León D., Ribas A., Hide M., Barech G., Benyettou M., Seghiri K., Doudou S., Fisa R. First report of natural infection in hedgehogs with Leishmania major, a possible reservoir of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Algeria. Acta Trop. 2014;135:44–49. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2014.03.018. PubMed DOI

Valero N.N.H., Uriarte M. Environmental and socioeconomic risk factors associated with visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis: a systematic review. Parasitol. Res. 2020 doi: 10.1007/s00436-019-06575-5. PubMed DOI

Vojtkova B., Spitzova T., Votypka J., Lestinova T., Kominkova I., Hajkova M., Santos-Mateus D., Miles M.A., Volf P., Sadlova J. Central Asian rodents as model animals for leishmania major and leishmania donovani research. Microorganisms. 2020;8:1–20. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms8091440. PubMed DOI PMC

Volf P., Volfova V. Establishment and maintenance of sand fly colonies. J. Vector Ecol. 2011;36:1–9. doi: 10.1111/j.1948-7134.2011.00106.x. PubMed DOI

Who Global leishmaniasis surveillance, 2017–2018, and first report on 5 additional indicators. Wkly. Epidemiol. Rec. 2020;95:265–280.