Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Severe visceral leishmaniasis signs in dogs with spleen damage
By Lima, Isadora S et al.·Published in PloS one·2014·Fundaç, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Severe clinical presentation of visceral leishmaniasis in naturally infected dogs with disruption of the splenic white pulp.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with severe symptoms of visceral leishmaniasis, a disease caused by a parasite, were studied to understand how changes in their spleen affected their health. Many of these dogs showed signs like hair loss, anemia, dehydration, skin issues, and swollen lymph nodes, especially those with more disorganized spleen tissue. The research found that dogs with severely disorganized spleens had worse clinical signs and lower levels of certain blood proteins compared to those with healthier spleens. This suggests that the state of the spleen can indicate how serious the disease is in dogs.
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Abstract
In this work, we investigated the association between the disruption of splenic lymphoid tissue and the severity of visceral leishmaniasis in dogs. Clinical and laboratory data from 206 dogs were reviewed. Spleen sections collected during the euthanasia of these animals were analyzed, and the splenic lymphoid tissue samples were classified as well organized (spleen type 1), slightly disorganized (spleen type 2), or moderately to extensively disorganized (spleen type 3). Of 199 dogs with evidence of Leishmania infection, 54 (27%) had spleen type 1, 99 (50%) had spleen type 2, and 46 (23%) had spleen type 3. The number of clinical signs associated with visceral leishmaniasis was significantly higher in the animals with evidence of Leishmania infection and spleen type 2 or 3 than in the animals with spleen type 1. Alopecia, anemia, dehydration, dermatitis, lymphadenopathy, and onychogryphosis were all more frequent among animals with evidence of Leishmania infection and spleen type 3 than among the dogs with evidence of Leishmania infection and spleen type 1. The association between the severity of canine visceral leishmaniasis and the disorganization of the splenic lymphoid tissue was even more evident in the group of animals with positive spleen culture. Conjunctivitis and ulceration were also more common in the animals with spleen type 3 than in the animals with spleen type 1. The serum levels (median, interquartile range) of albumin (1.8, 1.4-2.3 g/dL) and creatinine (0.7, 0.4-0.8 mg/dL) were significantly lower and the serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase were significantly higher (57, 39-95 U) in animals with spleen type 3 than in animals with spleen type 1 (2.8, 2.4-3.4 g/dL; 0.9, 0.7-1.2 mg/dL and 23, 20-32 U, respectively). Our data confirm the hypothesis that disruption of the splenic lymphoid tissue is associated with a more severe clinical presentation of canine visceral leishmaniasis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24498367/