Seroprevalence of Leishmania spp. in dogs in northern Serbia

Leishmaniosis is a zoonotic disease caused by Leishmania spp. Serbia was an endemic region for this disease until the second half of the 20th century. Nowadays, canine leishmaniosis appears to be a re-emerging vector-borne disease in Serbia. Its spread is enabled by the presence of Phlebotomus spp. sandflies in this region. The objective of this study was to establish the seroprevalence of Leishmania spp. in dogs being kept in shelters in Serbia and compare those that apply and those that do not apply prophylactic measures against arthropod vectors. This cross-sectional study involved 336 dogs in two regions in Northern Serbia during 2019-2020. A commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test was used to establish the prevalence of seropositive dogs. In the shelters that applied prophylactic measures against arthropod vectors, dogs were seronegative (n=52), while in those without these measures, 2.1% (6/284) were seropositive against Leishmania spp. In conclusion, the presence of dogs seropositive against Leishmania spp. in shelters that did not apply prophylactic measures may indicate that the local population of sandflies is a source of Leishmania spp. parasites.