Conference Agenda

Session

CP2: Canines 15 minute talk sponsored by Elanco

Time:

Tuesday, 30/June/2026:

11:30am - 11:45am

Session Chair: Swaid Abdullah, The University of Queensland
Session Chair: Liisa Ahlstrom, Elanco

Location: Lecture Theatre 2

Boulevard Room 2

Presentations

A widely used qPCR for Leishmania infantum is non-specific and hinders detection of globally emerging Leishmania species

Thuy Nguyen^1,2, Lucas Huggins¹, Andreia Fernandes Brilhante³, Andrea Paun⁴, Edwin Kniha⁵, Smaragda Sotiraki⁶, Panagiota Ligda⁶, Kanok Preativatanyou⁷, Padet Siriyasatien⁷, Christopher Fernandez-Prada⁸, Tawin Inpankaew⁹, Carla Maia¹⁰, Gad Baneth², Robin B. Gasser¹, Vito Colella¹

1: The University of Melbourne, Australia; 2: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; 3: Federal University of Acre, Brazil; 4: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, USA; 5: Medical University of Vienna, Austria; 6: Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter, Greece; 7: Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; 8: Université de Montréal, Canada; 9: Kasetsart University, Thailand; 10: Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal

Canine leishmaniasis (CanL) has important implications for both human and animal health. Leishmania infantum is the primary causative agent of CanL, with dogs acting as the main reservoir for human visceral leishmaniasis. A qPCR assay originally developed to aid CanL diagnosis has been widely used for the identification of L. infantum over the past two decades. However, evidence of cross-amplification of other Leishmania species raises concerns regarding species misidentification.

Through a systematic review of publications retrieved from major databases from 2006 to 2026, 177 studies were identified that used this CanL qPCR, of which only 51 (28.8%) applied a confirmatory molecular method.

We further evaluated the analytical and diagnostic performance of this assay using DNA from 15 cultured Leishmania species representing four subgenera, as well as vector and clinical samples from dogs and humans across endemic regions in the Old and New Worlds and performed species confirmation by nanopore sequencing targeting the heat shock protein 70 gene. We demonstrated that the assay amplified seven non-L. infantum species in cultured samples, and L. major and L. braziliensis from field samples. These findings demonstrate the potential of the CanL qPCR to obscure global Leishmania diversity, underscoring the need for improved diagnostic strategies.