Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How clinical signs relate to severity of canine leishmaniasis
By Ribeiro, Raul Rio et al.·Published in Revista brasileira de parasitologia veterinaria = Brazilian journal of veterinary parasitology : Orgao Oficial do Colegio Brasileiro de Parasitologia Veterinaria·2013·Universidade Federal do Recô·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Relationship between clinical and pathological signs and severity of canine leishmaniasis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 36 dogs with canine leishmaniasis (a disease caused by a parasite) was studied to understand how their symptoms related to their blood health. The dogs were divided into three groups based on their symptoms: some showed no signs of illness, some had mild symptoms, and others were quite sick. The study found that the sick dogs had lower levels of certain proteins in their blood and were more likely to be anemic (having low red blood cell counts). Dogs with better blood health had fewer symptoms, suggesting that monitoring blood tests could help assess the severity of the disease.
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Abstract
Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is a zoonotic disease that presents variable clinical and laboratory aspects. The aims of this study were to identify the main biochemical/hematological status of dogs naturally infected with Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum and to associate theses parameters with clinical forms of CVL. Blood samples were analyzed from 51 dogs, 15 uninfected (control group) and 36 infected, which were classified clinically in three groups: asymptomatic (n=12), oligosymptomatic (n=12) and symptomatic (n=12). All the infected dogs showed lower albumin/globulin ratios (A-G ratio) than the limit of reference. The mean values of total protein, urea, α-globulin 2, globulin and A-G ratio of infected dogs were outside the reference interval and differed significantly from those of the controls. Anemia was detected only in groups that showed clinical signs of the disease, and a statistical analysis indicated a significantly higher frequency of lower eritrogram in these groups than in the asymptomatic group. In addition, a significant association was observed between anemia and the presence of the symptoms, with dogs displaying higher erythrogram values showing better clinical conditions. These results provide additional evidence that the clinical forms of CVL may reflect on the erythrogram status.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24142168/