doiSerbia

Leishmaniasis in dogs: Case study

Aleksić Jelena (Fakultet veterinarske medicine, Beograd)
Kukolj Vladimir (Fakultet veterinarske medicine, Beograd)
Popović Nikola (Fakultet veterinarske medicine, Beograd)

The paper presents a case of leishmaniasis in a 2.5-month-old dog imported from France. The clinical examination established a generally poor state of health, expressed cachexia, atrophy of the temporal musculature, weakness of movement, as well as abnormally long and brittle nails. There was also hyperkeratosis of the nose tip and paws. A histological examination of biopsy sections of the altered skin parts showed inflammatory changes in the area of the dermis, together with infiltration of macrophages and a smaller number of lymphocytes, plasmocytes and neutrophil granulocytes in the area around the sebaceous glands and hair follicles. The determined changes correspond to superficial dermatitis. Edema followed by partial degeneration of connective-tissue fibers is observed in connective tissue. A smaller number of intracellular parasitic forms was established in mononuclear cells. A smaller number of oval amastigotes with round dark red nucleis were observed in sections stained using the Gimza method in the cytoplasm of macrophages located in the dermis, but also extracellularly. It was concluded that the dog was diseased with leishmaniasis on the grounds of the clinical picture and the microscopic findings.

Keywords: dog, leishmaniasis