O conhecimento sobre leishmaniose visceral: Suficiente para controle e prevenção?

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a zoonosis with cosmopolitan distribution responsible for millions of cases in humans every year, has the etiological agent protozoans of the genus Leishmania , which the transmission occurs through the bite of sandflies (phlebotomines). Changes in the environment such as deforestation, expansion of urban areas to edges of woods has led to the urbanization of the parasite and the increases of the risk for human infection. The aim of this study was: i) evaluate the knowledge of established families in the rural settlement "Estrela da Ilha" of Ilha Solteira, SP about LV, ii) diagnosis for canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) in dogs of these families and, iii) dependency analysis by Chi-squared test and  Fischer exact test (p ? 0.05), to know if such knowledge is sufficient for the control and prevention of this zoonosis in the rural environment. For this study, 39 families were interviewed through a questionnaire and blood samples of 93 dogs were collected and submitted to an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of anti- Leishmania antibodies. 25.8% (24/93) of dogs were positive to CVL and 46.15% (18/39) of the families own these infected dogs. Fischer's analysis showed dependence between the variables "dogs of the families with LVC" versus "attitudes of families faced with a suspected case of LVC" (p = 0.0076) and on "how the population may contribute to the control of the CVL" (p = 0.0457). In both evaluations, the highest percentage of families knew the answer how to proceed, but this knowledge was  not sufficient to reduce the number of infected dogs in their homes. The variable "dogs of the families with LVC" was also dependent in relation to the lack of knowledge of the families on the "vector" feeding period (p = 0.0312). It is concluded that the rural families of this study present fragmented knowledge about the disease, resulting in inefficient practices as a prophylactic measure of LVC. Thus, the lack of joint action, such as (knowledge and basic preventive measures) can increase the risk of cases of leishmaniasis in humans and dogs in this rural area.