TY - JOUR AU - Bhattarai, Narayan Raj AU - Van der Auwera, Gert AU - Rijal, Suman AU - Picado, Albert AU - Speybroeck, Niko AU - Khanal, Basudha AU - De Doncker, Simonne AU - Das, Murari Lal AU - Ostyn, Bart AU - Davies, Clive AU - Coosemans, Marc AU - Berkvens, Dirk AU - Boelaert, Marleen AU - Dujardin, Jean-Claude T1 - Domestic Animals and Epidemiology of Visceral Leishmaniasis, Nepal T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2010 VL - 16 IS - 2 SP - 231 SN - 1080-6059 AB - On the Indian subcontinent, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is considered an anthroponosis. To determine possible reasons for its persistence during interepidemic periods, we mapped Leishmania infections among healthy persons and animals in an area of active VL transmission in Nepal. During 4 months (September 2007–February 2008), blood was collected from persons, goats, cows, and buffaloes in 1 village. Leishmania infections were determined by using PCR. We found infections among persons (6.1%), cows (5%), buffaloes (4%), and goats (16%). Data were georeferenced and entered into a geographic information system. The bivariate K-function results indicated spatial clustering of Leishmania spp.–positive persons and domestic animals. Classification tree analysis determined that among several possible risk factors for Leishmania infection among persons, proximity of Leishmania spp.–positive goats ranked first. Although our data do not necessarily mean that goats constitute a reservoir host of L. donovani, these observations indicate the need for further investigation of goats’ possible role in VL transmission. KW - Visceral leishmaniasis KW - Leishmania donovani KW - transmission KW - epidemiology KW - reservoir host KW - goat KW - Nepal KW - parasites KW - vector-borne infections KW - research DO - 10.3201/eid1602.090623 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/16/2/09-0623_article ER - End of Reference