Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Leishmaniosis diagnosed in UK dog with no travel history
By McKenna, Myles et al.·Published in The Veterinary record·2019·Department of Clinical Science and Services, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Leishmaniosis in a dog with no travel history outside of the UK.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 3-year-old male neutered Shih Tzu cross was brought to the vet after losing weight and experiencing skin issues, vomiting, and diarrhea for three weeks. Tests showed low blood cell counts and other abnormalities, leading to further investigations that confirmed he had leishmaniosis, a disease typically spread by infected sandflies. Surprisingly, this dog had never traveled outside the UK, but he lived with another dog that had been imported from Spain and had severe leishmaniosis before being euthanized. This case highlights the possibility of leishmaniosis being transmitted between dogs in the UK.
People also search for: dog weight loss vomiting diarrhea · Shih Tzu skin problems · leishmaniosis treatment in dogs
Abstract
A 3-year-old male neutered Shih Tzu cross was presented for investigation of a three-week history of weight loss, seborrhoea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Initial clinicopathological findings included pancytopenia, mild hypercalcaemia and marked hyperglobulinaemia. Subsequent bone marrow and skin biopsies revealed the presence ofamastigotes. Quantitative serology was positive forspecies and PCR on the bone marrow sample confirmed ainfection. The patient had been in the owner's possession since a puppy, had no travel history outside of the UK and had never received a blood transfusion or been used for breeding. However, another dog in the household that had been imported from Spain had been euthanased six months previously due to severe leishmaniosis. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of canine leishmaniosis in the UK without a history of travel to an endemic area, and most likely represents a case of dog-to-dog transmission.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30665949/