Successful treatment of feline leishmaniosis using a combination of allopurinol and N-methyl-glucamine antimoniate

Basso, Maria Alexandra; Marques, Cátia; Santos, Marcos; Duarte, Ana; Pissarra, Hugo; Carreira, L Miguel; Gomes, Lídia; Valério-Bolas, Ana; Tavares, Luís; Santos-Gomes, Gabriela; Pereira da Fonseca, Isabel

DNA extraction from EDTA blood samples, skin nodules and lymph node aspirates was carried out with a DNeasy Blood & Tissue kit (Qiagen). Detection of feline coronavirus from plasma was performed by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), 16 targeting the 3′ end of the virus genome. Additionally, qPCR using L infantum-specific Taqman probes targeting the kinetoplast minicircle DNA (kDNA) was also performed to determine the initial and follow-up parasitic load. 17 RT-qPCR was negative for coronavirus, while qPCR of skin nodules and blood samples were positive for L infantum kDNA, showing a parasitic load of 1700 and 0.1 parasites per 50 ng DNA, respectively ( Table 2) .