A RETROSPECTIVE CLINICAL-STUDY OF CANINE LEISHMANIASIS IN 150 DOGS NATURALLY INFECTED BY LEISHMANIA-INFANTUM

The clinical and laboratory findings observed in 150 dogs naturally in fected by Leishmania infantum, from a large endemic area of southern I taly, are described, There was a gradual onset of clinical signs and t he course of the disease was progressive in almost all the cases. The majority of the dogs were mongrels (43.3 per cent), male (64.7 per cen t), of medium size (50.6 per cent), three to seven years old (64.7 per cent), and living outdoors (60 per cent), They showed generalised (56 .7 per cent) or symmetrical (32 per cent) lymphadenomegaly; the mucous membranes of 87 of the dogs (58 per cent) were pale and moderate or s evere splenomegaly was diagnosed in 80 dogs (53.3 per cent); weight lo ss was observed in 32 per cent of the animals. Skin abnormalities were very common, and included dry exfoliative dermatitis (56 per cent), u lcers (40 per cent) periorbital alopecia ('lunettes') (18 per cent), d iffuse alopecia (14 per cent) and onychogryphosis (24 per cent), Ocula r signs were observed in 24 dogs (16 per cent) including 16 cases of k eratoconjunctivitis (three with keratoconjunctivitis sicca), six cases of moderate uveitis and two cases of panophthalmitis. The acute form of the disease was diagnosed in only six dogs and was characterised by fever and generalised lymphadenomegaly, and by the absence of skin le sions, Another six dogs had severe renal failure without systemic clin ical signs of leishmaniasis, The most important laboratory findings we re a severe or moderate increase in gammaglobulins, hypoalbuminaemia, hyperproteinemia and anaemia, Cultures or cytology tests for L infantu m parasites were positive in 134 of the dogs, Following the standard p rocedures developed for human lymph node and bone marrow cytology test s, the leishmania density in the dogs varied from 1+ to 2+. Leishmania antibody titres were high (>1:160) in almost all the dogs, Immunologi cal tests for autoantibodies were positive in 25 of 53 dogs tested in the antinuclear antibody (ANA) test, in 15 of 43 dogs tested in the la tex test and in five of 24 dogs tested in the Coombs test.