Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with Leishmania infection showing gut inflammation on tissue tests
By F.L. Silva et al.·Published in Arquivo Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia·2002·Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, BR
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Original publication title: Histopathological and immunohistochemical study of the gastrointestinal tract from a dog naturally infected with Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi: a case report
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A mongrel dog was found to be infected with Leishmania chagasi, a parasite that can affect the gastrointestinal tract, but surprisingly showed no symptoms. Samples from various parts of the dog's gut were examined, revealing a moderate chronic inflammation in the tissues. The study highlighted that a specific testing method (immunohistochemistry) was more effective in detecting the parasite than other techniques. While the dog did not display any signs of illness, the findings suggest that even asymptomatic pets can harbor infections that may need monitoring.
People also search for: dog Leishmania infection symptoms · asymptomatic dog parasite · chronic inflammation in dog gut
Abstract
Samples of stomach, duodenum, jejunun, ileum, cecum and colon were collected for Giemsa-smears ("imprints") from one asymptomatic mongrel dog, naturally infected with Leishmania (L) chagasi. Other fragments were obtained and fixed in formalin (10% and buffered) for histopathological and immunohistochemical studies. The immunohistochemistry was carried out by a streptavidin-peroxidase technique and it allowed to detect amastigote forms of Leishmania chagasi in the different paraffin gut sections. The principal lesion observed was a discrete to moderate chronic inflammatory reaction in the mucosa and submucosa in all fragments of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). A chronic cellular exsudate was observed in all GIT tissues and it was composed by mononuclear cells (monocytes, plasmocytes and lymphocytes). A comparison between the two techniques showed that the immunohistochemistry study is the best method to detect amastigote forms of Leishmania.
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