Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Best way to test dogs for Leishmania infection is spleen aspiration
By Barrouin-Melo, Stella Maria et al.·Published in Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz·2004·Centro de Pesquisas Gonç·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Comparison between splenic and lymph node aspirations as sampling methods for the parasitological detection of Leishmania chagasi infection in dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 64 dogs in Brazil that tested positive for Leishmania antibodies were evaluated to see which method was better for diagnosing canine visceral leishmaniasis. The study found that taking a sample from the spleen was much more effective, detecting the parasite in nearly 98% of symptomatic dogs, compared to just 25% in lymph node samples. This suggests that if a dog shows symptoms of this infection, a spleen aspiration is the preferred method for accurate diagnosis.
People also search for: dog leishmaniasis symptoms · spleen aspiration for dogs · diagnosing Leishmania in dogs
Abstract
The sensitivities of spleen and lymph node cultures for the diagnosis of canine visceral leishmaniasis were compared in 64 anti-Leishmania antibody positive dogs from an endemic area in Brazil. The sensitivity of spleen cultures for Leishmania detection was 97.9%; in lymph node cultures it was 25%. Positive spleen culture was more frequent (p = 0.048, Fisher's exact probability test) in symptomatic (28 out of 33 animals) than in asymptomatic animals (19 out of 31 animals). These results support the use of spleen instead of lymph node aspiration as the choice method for the parasitological diagnosis of the infection.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15250475/