Parasitology

Biography

Biography: Luiz Euribel Prestes-Carneiro

Abstract

Brazil harbors 90% of the Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) reported cases in Latin America. We described the role of environment in the fast and worrying spread of VL in western Sao Paulo state, Brazil. Coming to Brazil from Bolivia through the Novoeste railway, Marechal Rondon highway (SP-300) and Bolivia-Brazil pipeline construction (GASBOL), the disease arrived at the border of the west region in 2006 through Mato Grosso do Sul (MS) state. We hypothesize that the primary axis of VL dissemination through the west was the SP-563 highway, coming from endemic regions of MS and throughout the whole region, crowded of small and middle cities and connected by a large number of highways (1,480 miles). By 2013, from the 45 municipalities that comprise the region, 30 (66.7%), has reported the sand-fly, 18 (40%), canine leishmaniasis and 14 (31.1%), human VL, 348 human reported cases and 19 deaths (2005-2013). It is considered the poorest region of the state with sandy/dry soil in the winter and rainy/wet soil in the summer, with increasing temperatures in the last decades. Nevertheless, the framework of VL dissemination could be aggravated by the extensive amount of watersheds flowing into Paraná, Paranapanema and Tietê, the three biggest rivers of southwestern and southern Brazil, with nine big lakes and a flooded area of 2,384 square miles, supporting nine hydroelectric plants and bridges. Poverty, tropical climate, extensive highway network, artificial big lakes linking endemic regions may endorse environment factors related to the spreading of VL in western Sao Paulo state.