The Role of the Leishmania infantum Infected Dogs as a Potential Reservoir Host for Toscana Virus in a Zoonotic Visceral Leishmaniasis Focus of Northern Tunisia.

The role of dogs as reservoir hosts for Toscana virus (TOSV) remains undetermined. This study investigated TOSV and infections in one healthy and three infected dogs with (A, B, C) following natural exposition to sandfly bites in a focus of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL) located in Northern Tunisia from June to October 2020. At the end of the exposition period, infected and healthy dogs were examined for TOSV and infections by xenodiagnosis using a colony of . Pools of freshly engorged at days 0 and those at days 7 post-feeding were screened for TOSV and by nested PCR in the polymerase gene and kinetoplast minicircle DNA, respectively. In the exposure site, is the most abundant sandfly species. The infection rates of sandflies with TOSV and were 0.10 and 0.05%, respectively. DNA and TOSV RNA were detected in females fed on dog B and C, respectively. The isolation of TOSV in Vero cells was achieved from two pools containing fed on dog C. No pathogens were detected in females fed on dog A and on control dog. We report for the first time the reservoir competence of dog with ZVL in the transmission of TOSV to sandfly vectors in natural settings, in addition to its role as a main reservoir host of .