Most common allergens causing dog itchy skin disease in study

Abstract

Canine atopic dermatitis (CAD) is one of the most common skin diseases of dogs. It is estimated that 10-15% of the dogs are showing clinical symptoms of this disease. Canine atopic dermatitis is defi ned as genetically predisposed inflammatory and pruritic allergic skin disease with characteristic clinical symptoms. It is related to the production of IgE antibodies, mostly directed against external allergens. Allergens that can cause canine atopic dermatitis are quite numerous and depend on the geographical characteristics of research location. Th e aim of the study is to determine the most common allergens that can cause canine atopic dermatitis. The research was conducted according to medical records of 100 dogs during a period from the beginning of 2008 to the end of 2012 from the Department for skin diseases of small animals of the Clinic of equine, small animal, poultry and wild animal diseases at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Belgrade. According to the clinical documentation, all of the tested dogs had clinically manifested symptoms of CAD. In order to confi rm the diagnosis and detect the causative allergens, intradermal testing has been done. This testing has been performed with a standard set of 24 allergens specifi c to the geographical area of the research, produced in the Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera “Torlak”. According to the results, the highest percentage of positive responses was established for the following allergens: house dust mites (Dermatophagoides sp.) 67%, ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) 61%, household dust 60%, cocks foot (Dactylis sp.) 59%, mix of weed pollen 57%.