99 research outputs found
Resolution of tongue lesions caused by Leishmania infantum in a dog treated with the association miltefosine-allopurinol
Canine leishmaniosis is a severe systemic disease caused by the kinetoplastid protozoan Leishmania infantum, an obligatory intracellular parasite of mammalian macrophages, transmitted by the bite of phlebotomine sandflies. The infection in dogs might occur without any clinical signs or might be characterised by chronic viscerocutaneous signs, such as lymphadenopathy, skin lesions, splenomegaly, onychogryphosis, and renal as well as ocular damage due to immunocomplex deposition. In atypical cases the parasites can be found in the striated musculature, the central nervous system, the endocrine glands or gonads, with or without functional damage. Leishmania infection might seldom induce oral lesions, particularly on the tongue. The authors describe the clinical case of a four-year old mongrel dog with tongue lesions caused by L. infantum. The dog was presented due to diarrhoea, lack of appetite and hypersalivation. Examination of the oral cavity revealed the presence of multiple red, nodular lesions on the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the tongue. Definite diagnosis of an infection with L. infantum was obtained by an indirect immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) and by the cytological identification of the parasite in nodular, lingual lesions and bone marrow aspirates. The dog was treated with a combination of miltefosine (Milteforan®, Virbac), 2 mg/kg orally once a day for four weeks and allopurinol (Ziloric®, GlaxoSmithKline), 10 mg/kg orally twice a day for six months. At the end of the treatment, the animal showed full remission of clinical signs. The authors outline the atypical manifestations in the oral cavity in combination with a L. infantum infection and discuss the therapeutic potential of the combination treatment of miltefosine and allopurinol in canine leishmaniosis
Examining the Relationship of Clinical and Laboratory Parameters With Infectiousness to Phlebotomus perniciosus and Its Potential Infectivity in Dogs With Overt Clinical Leishmaniasis
Infected dogs are considered the main domestic animal reservoirs for Leishmania
infantum parasite. Infectiousness to competent phlebotomine vectors has been
associated with many factors, the main being the severity of the disease exhibited by
infected dogs. This study examines the relationship between different clinical parameters
and the infectiousness to colonized Phlebotomus perniciosus sand flies having a blood
meal on dogs. Data obtained in the present study come from an untreated group
of Leishmania sick dogs submitted to xenodiagnosis for the evaluation of a spot on
insecticide solution. Seventeen dogs were diagnosed as affected by leishmaniasis
through clinical examination, immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) serology, and
loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). The disease severity (clinical score)
was staged by using a numeric value derived from eight clinical and parasitological
parameters. Xenodiagnosis was performed on caged dogs exposed for 1.5 h to sand-fly
bites. The following parameters related to sand flies were examined: blood feeding
(% of blood engorged females), promastigote detection (% of promastigote-positive
sand flies), promastigote burden, and the promastigote stage maturation (potential
transmissibility rate). Statistical relationship between the clinical score and entomological
parameters was investigated, as well as the possible correlation between each clinical
and laboratory parameters and sand fly infection/infectivity. The severity of clinical score
may influence the blood feeding by, and the probability of promastigote detection in,
sand flies; skin lesions seem to be the main factor that influences the rate of blood
feeding. Promastigote burden is related to IFAT titer, skin lesions, and clinical score. All
entomological parameters are strongly related among them. This study confirms that
both P. perniciosus infection and infectivity are influenced by a dog’s clinical condition
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