Leishmaniasis in Tuscany (Italy): (II) Leishmania form wild Bodentia and Carnivora in a human and canine leishmaniasis focus.

From April 1977 to February 1978, wild mammals were trapped in a focus of low leishmanial endemicity (Baccinello) in the Province of Grosseto (Tuscany, Italy). Spleen homogenates of the trapped animals were injected i.p. into hamsters, from which spleen biopsies were taken after 60 days and impression smears carefully observed for the presence of Leishmania. Positive spleens were subinoculated into hamsters. 404 animals of 12 species were trapped: 31 insectivores, 317 rodents and 56 carnivores. Black rats (Rattus rattus) and field mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) were the rodent species most frequently trapped--160 and 139 respectively--of which 143 and 134 respectively were tested in hamsters for Leishmania. 35 foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were caught, of which 16 were tested for Leishmania. Four hamsters were found infested with Leishmania. Three of them had been injected with spleen homogenates from R. rattus and one from V. vulpes although liver and spleen impression smears of all trapped animals were negative for Leishmania on direct microscopical examination. The significance of Leishmania infection in wild animals in the leishmanial focus of Baccinello is discussed.