Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Leishmania vaccine tested as treatment for infected dogs
By Toepp, Angela et al.·Published in Vaccine·2018·Department of Epidemiology, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Randomized, controlled, double-blinded field trial to assess Leishmania vaccine effectiveness as immunotherapy for canine leishmaniosis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of hunting dogs in Brazil that were infected with Leishmania but not showing symptoms received a new vaccine to see if it could prevent them from getting sick. The results showed that the vaccine reduced the risk of developing symptoms by 25% and significantly lowered the chance of death in younger dogs by 70%. This suggests that vaccinating healthy dogs infected with Leishmania can help control the disease and improve their chances of staying healthy.
People also search for: dog leishmaniasis vaccine · preventing leishmaniasis in dogs · symptoms of leishmaniasis in dogs
Abstract
Better tools are necessary to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Modeling studies for regional Leishmania elimination indicate that an effective vaccine is a critical tool. Dogs are the reservoir host of L. infantum in Brazil and the Mediterranean basin, and therefore are an important target for public health interventions as well as a relevant disease model for human VL. No vaccine has been efficacious as an immunotherapy to prevent progression of already diagnostically positive individuals to symptomatic leishmaniasis. We performed a double-blinded, block-randomized, placebo-controlled, vaccine immunotherapy trial testing the efficacy of a recombinant Leishmania A2 protein, saponin-adjuvanted, vaccine, LeishTec®, in owned hunting dogs infected with L. infantum. The primary outcome was reduction of clinical progression, with reduction of mortality as a secondary outcome. Vaccination as an immunotherapy reduced the risk of progression to clinically overt leishmaniasis by 25% in asymptomatic dogs (RR: 1.33 95% C.I. 1.009-1.786 p-value: 0.0450). Receiving vaccine vs. placebo reduced all-cause mortality in younger asymptomatic dogs by 70% (RR: 3.19 95% C.I.: 1.185-8.502 p-value = 0.0245). Vaccination of infected-healthy animals with an anti-Leishmania vaccine significantly reduced clinical progression and decreased all-cause mortality. Use of vaccination in infected-healthy dogs can be a tool for Leishmania control.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30219369/