Abstract
This retrospective study determined the prevalence of dermatological lesions associated with canine leishmaniasis (CanL) in a nonendemic area in Italy. The medical records of 131 dogs with CanL were reviewed and, of these, 115/131 dogs (88%) had dermatological manifestations of which 100/131 dogs (76%) met the inclusion criteria. Sixty-two percent of dogs were male and 38% were female and the mean age was 6.4 years. Thirty-two percent of dogs were mixed breeds; the remainder represented a variety of pure breeds. In 79% of dogs dermatological signs occurred in association with systemic signs of CanL, whilst 21% of dogs had only dermatological manifestations. The most common dermatological manifestation was exfoliative dermatitis (74%), followed by ulcerative (18%) and nodular (11%) lesions. In 51% of dogs the lesions were localized mainly on the pinnae, head, and pressure points; in the remaining 49% lesions were generalized. The only statistically significant association was between Retriever breed and animals with only dermatological signs (P = 0.0034, OD 5.97, CI 0.996–37.933). In this study dermatological manifestations of CanL were very commonly reported, and their prevalence is similar to previous studies in endemic areas despite the fact that dogs living in nonendemic areas are not exposed to repeated infectious bites and continuous stimulation of the dermal immune system.
Highlights
Canine leishmaniasis (CanL) is a zoonotic chronic wasting disease that is endemic along the Mediterranean basin, subtropical and tropical regions of Asia, South and Central America [1], and more recently in the United States of America [2]
In this study dermatological manifestations of canine leishmaniasis (CanL) were very commonly reported, and their prevalence is similar to previous studies in endemic areas despite the fact that dogs living in nonendemic areas are not exposed to repeated infectious bites and continuous stimulation of the dermal immune system
Of the remaining 115/131 dogs (88%) who had CanL with dermatological manifestations, 5 dogs were excluded because of incomplete medical records, 6 dogs because of concomitant infectious diseases, and 4 dogs for other diseases potentially associated with dermatological signs
Summary
Canine leishmaniasis (CanL) is a zoonotic chronic wasting disease that is endemic along the Mediterranean basin, subtropical and tropical regions of Asia, South and Central America [1], and more recently in the United States of America [2]. Dermatological manifestations are the most commonly reported clinical features of CanL [5, 7,8,9]. Ferrer et al [10], in a field study of 43 naturally infected dogs, first identified four different dermatological pictures in dogs with CanL: alopecia and desquamation, ulcerative dermatosis, nodular disease, and pustular dermatitis (considered in subsequent studies to be the most common cutaneous manifestations of this disease). In studies in endemic areas the most commonly reported skin lesions are exfoliative dermatitis with generalized or focal alopecia/hypotrichosis and cutaneous or mucosal ulcerations, followed much less frequently by nodular dermatitis and sterile pustular dermatitis [4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12]
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