Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Leishmania infantum infection found in a dog in Türkiye
By Damlapinar, Aysegul et al.·Published in Veterinary parasitology, regional studies and reports·2025·Department of Parasitology·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Detection and isolation of Leishmania infantum from natural infected dog in Türkiye.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A one-year-old male crossbred dog in Türkiye was brought to the vet with symptoms like weight loss, hair loss, skin issues, and swollen lymph nodes. Tests showed the dog had anemia and signs of a parasitic infection called Leishmania infantum, which can cause serious health problems. The vet confirmed the diagnosis using a rapid test and found the parasite in the dog's lymph nodes. This case is notable as it is the first documented isolate of this parasite from a dog in Türkiye, and the sample has been preserved for future research.
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Abstract
Some clinical signs such as cachexia, alopecia, exfoliative dermatitis, hair loss, and swollen lymph nodes were observed in a one-year-old crossbred male dog living in a rural area of Kirikkale province, Türkiye, was presented to the veterinary clinic by its owner. Anaemia, leucopenia, hyperglobulinemia, and bilirubinemia were detected. Seropositivity was detected using Leishmania IgG/IgM Rapid Test. The amastigote forms of the parasite were observed in the lymph node aspirates. Viable promastigotes were observed in the samples obtained from the Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle medium (NNN) tubes. The parasite DNA was extracted from the promastigotes produced in the NNN medium using a DNA extraction kit according to the manufacturer's instructions. The specific bands indicating the gene regions of L. infantum (350 bp and 730 bp for HSP20 and HSP70, respectively) were observed. Additionally, BLASTn analysis revealed 100 % similarity with GenBank-deposited L. infantum sequences. The sequences were submitted to GenBank (Accession numbers: OR806945 and OR806946). According to the author's knowledge, it is the first dog isolate deposited in the collection of the Microbiology Reference Laboratories and Biological Products Department, General Directorate of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Ankara, Türkiye. The isolate (TR_L. infantum CanL-1_damla) has been preserved by cryopreservation at -150 °C for further studies.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39855848/