Canine Leptospirosis in Pennsylvania

Abstract

and field mice are carriers of leptospira. It has been shown since that dogs, cats, foxes, minks, bats, horses and other animals may also transmit leptospira to man. The whole problem of leptospirosis has been recently reviewed by WalchSorgdrager.2 About 16 strains of leptospira have been reported from all parts of the world. The main groups pathogenic for man are L. icterohemorrhagiae, Leptospira canicola, Leptospira hebdomadis, and Leptospira grippotyphosa. There has been no conclusive proof that Leptospira biflexa, the water strain, is pathogenic for man. That the dog can be affected with Weil's disease has been suspected for many years. During the first World War, a case of in a dog at the front was proven to be due to leptospira found in the liver and transferred to a guinea pig. So far, infection of dogs with leptospira has been reported in about 44 countries: in many parts of Europe, especially in the Netherlands, Germany, England; also in Asia; the Indies; the Federated Malay States; Madras; and most recently in the United States (California, Michigan and New York). In the Netherlands (Korthoff,3 Klarenbeek and Schiiffner4) and in England (Okell, Dalling and Pugh'), it has been reported that at least one-third of the cases of infectious in the dog were due to leptospirosis. Besides the enzootic jaundice due to the classical strain (L. icterohemorrhagiae), the English workers noted in the dog a peracute form with hemorrhages of the stomach, intestines and other organs. In 1924, Lukes6 and Kfivacek7 demonstrated leptospira in Stuttgart dog disease, also called dog typhus, stomatitis ulcerosa, gastro-enteritis hemorrhagica, etc., and accompanied by signs of polydipsia, polyuria, gastro-enteritis and melena. In 1931, Klarenbeek and Schiiffner4 isolated from dogs in Holland leptospira strains which were agglutinated by specific serum to a titer of 1:10,000 and with serum specific for L. icterohemorrhagiae to a titer of 1:25. In a series of cases of canine leptospirosis in Klarenbeek's Veterinary Policlinic in Utrecht, there were 94 dogs infected with L. canicola, with 3% jaundiced and fatality resulting in 41% of the cases; while among 57 dogs infected with L. icterohemorrhagiae 82% were jaundiced, with fatality in 51% of the cases. This and other studies showed that L. canicola was more frequently the cause of leptospirosis in dogs and, furthermore, that dogs infected with L. canicola were less often jaundiced than dogs infected with L. icterohemorrhagiae. Except for some instances in which the symptoms overlapped, was the rule for the classical strain (L. icterohemorrhagiae) and uremia for the dog strain (L. caniReceived for publication, February 25, 1941. 1. J. Exper. Med. 23: 377, 1916. 2. Quart. Bull. Health Organ., League of Nations 8: 143, 1939. 3. Nederl. tijdschr. v. geneesk. 3: 4097, 1930. 4. Nederl. tijdschr. v. Geneesk. 77: 4271, 1933; Zentralbl. f. Bakt. 142: 80, 1938. 5. Vet. J. 71: 3, 1925. 6. Ann. Inst. Pasteur 38: 523, 1924. 7. Ztschr. f. Hyg. u. Infektionskr. 103: 529, 1924.