各种各样的哺乳动物,包括家养和野生物种,被认为是利什曼原虫的潜在宿主和水库。蝙蝠有长寿,扩散能力,以及对同步环境的适应性,这些特征可能有利于它们在维持寄生虫生命周期中的作用。因此,这项研究的目的是对蝙蝠中利什曼原虫物种的发生进行全球系统评价,以及确定饮食习惯和收集的样本类型与感染发生之间的关联。数据是从使用分子方法识别寄生虫的研究的书目搜索中获得的,使用关键字“蝙蝠”和“利什曼原虫”及其同义词。我们发现了68项原始研究,其中20人被纳入本次审查。大多数研究在巴西进行(60%),只有10%在旧世界国家进行。总之,记录了48种蝙蝠,其中有7种利什曼原虫,导致62种不同的宿主-寄生虫相互作用,利什曼原虫与蝙蝠物种的相互作用频率更高。利什曼原虫物种丰富度之间没有显着差异,感染百分比,和分析的样本类型,但总的来说,据观察,使用不同的生物样品似乎扩大了寄生虫检测的可能性。此处观察到的模式表明,蝙蝠可以感染多种利什曼原虫物种,并可能在维持寄生虫的生命周期中起重要作用。因此,我们建议,旨在了解利什曼病传播周期的研究包括将蝙蝠作为利什曼病的潜在宿主或水库进行调查。
A wide variety of mammals, including domestic and wild species, have been considered potential hosts and reservoirs for Leishmania. Bats have longevity, dispersal capacity, and adaptability to synotropic environments, characteristics that may favor their role in maintaining the life cycle of parasites. Therefore, the objective of this study was to carry out a worldwide systematic review of the occurrence of Leishmania species in bats, as well as to identify associations between eating habits and the type of sample collected with the occurrence of the infection. Data were obtained from a bibliographic search for studies that used molecular methods to identify parasites, employing the keywords \"bats\" AND \"Leishmania\" and their synonyms. We found 68 original studies, of which 20 were included in this review. Most studies were conducted in Brazil (60 %) and only 10 % were conducted in Old World countries. In all, 48 bat species were recorded that hosted seven Leishmania species, resulting in 62 different host-parasite interactions, and the Leishmania infantum interaction with bat species presented higher frequency. There was no significant difference between Leishmania species richness, infection percentage, and type of sample analyzed, but in general, it is observed that the use of different biological samples seems to expand the possibility of parasite detection. The patterns observed here indicate that bats can become infected with a wide variety of Leishmania species and likely play an important role in maintaining the parasite\'s life cycle. Thus, we suggest that studies aimed at understanding the transmission cycle of leishmaniasis include the investigation of bats as potential hosts or reservoirs of Leishmania.