Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Leishmania parasite levels in ear skin of dogs with visceral
By Giunchetti, R C et al.·Published in Journal of comparative pathology·2006·Laborató·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Relationship between canine visceral leishmaniosis and the Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi burden in dermal inflammatory foci.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with leishmaniosis, a disease caused by the Leishmania chagasi parasite, showed varying levels of skin inflammation and parasite presence. Infected dogs were categorized based on their symptoms, with those showing more severe signs having a higher parasite load in their skin. The study found that dogs with more severe symptoms had greater inflammation and changes in skin tissue compared to those with mild or no symptoms. This suggests that the severity of skin issues in these dogs is linked to the level of parasite infection.
People also search for: dog leishmaniosis symptoms · dog skin inflammation treatment · Leishmania chagasi in dogs
Abstract
The skin is the first point of contact with organisms of the genus Leishmania from sand fly vectors, and apparently normal skin of sick dogs harbours amastigote forms of Leishmania chagasi. In relation to canine visceral leishmaniosis (CVL), the ear skin was examined in 10 uninfected dogs (UDs) and in 31 dogs dogs naturally infected with L. chagasi. The infected animals consisted of 10 symptomless dogs (SLDs), 12 mildly affected dogs (MADs) and nine affected dogs (ADs). A higher parasite burden was demonstrated in ADs than in SLDs by anti-Leishmania immunohistochemistry (P<0.01), and by Leishman Donivan Unit (LDU) indices (P=0.0024) obtained from Giemsa-stained impression smears. Sections stained with haematoxylin and eosin demonstrated a higher intensity of inflammatory changes in ADs than in SLDs (P<0.05), and in the latter group flow cytometry demonstrated a correlation (P=0.05/r=0.7454) between the percentage of CD14(+) monocytes in peripheral blood and chronic dermal inflammation. Extracellular matrix assessment for reticular fibres by staining of sections with Masson trichrome and Gomori ammoniacal silver demonstrated a decrease in collagen type I and an increase in collagen type III as the clinical signs increased. The data on correlation between cellular phenotypes and histological changes seemed to reflect cellular activation and migration from peripheral blood to the skin, mediated by antigenic stimulation. The results suggested that chronic dermal inflammation and cutaneous parasitism were directly related to the severity of clinical disease.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16959259/