Recovery of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis from hepatic aspirates of the black-plumed marmoset, Callithrix penicillata
Vexenat, A.; Rosa, C.; Cuba, C.C.; Marsden, P.D.
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 85(5): 596
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0035-9203
PMID: 1780984
DOI: 10.1016/0035-9203(91)90357-5
Accession: 002203653
A single amastigote was found in post-mortem Giemsa-stained smears of a C. penicillata which had been infected with L. braziliensis several years before its death. Culture of the inoculation site on the pinna of this animal was also positive, although the lesion was inactive. Of 10 other animals chronically infected with L. braziliensis only one still had an active granuloma on the left pinna at the inoculation site. Three hepatic aspirates were cultured from all 10 animals and studied for 6 weeks. This procedure was repeated on 2 further occasions over 38 days. The monkey with the active lesion showed 3 consecutive positive cultures; all other cultures were negative. Ten marmosets, experimentally infected with Leishmania braziliensis, were examined for evidence of hepatic metastasis in the chronic stage of the infection. One of the monkeys (the only animal still with an active granuloma at the inoculation site on the pinna) yielded 3 consecutive positive cultures from hepatic aspirates. Cultures from the other monkeys were all negative.Carolyn A. Brown.