Avaliação clínica, hematológica e medular de cães naturalmente infectados com Leishmania infantum Chagasi

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is an anthropozoonosis which causes large public health impact, for dogs are the main reservoir of the parasite, which makes hard to control the disease. The aim of this work was to evaluate clinical, haematological and bone marrow of different clinical forms of visceral leishmaniasis in dogs. We used 19 adult dogs with both genders. All animals were positive to Leishmania spp. by ELISA, RIFI and parasitological examination. All animals stayed in the experimental kennel Institute of Biological Sciences (ICB), Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Animals were divided in sub-clinical and clinical group according the presence of clinical and pathological signs of disease. Clinical evaluation shows that 63,2% (12/19) and 36,8% (7/19) of animals were sub-clinical and clinical respectively. Hematological evaluation showed normochromic normocytic anemia in 26.3% (5/19) of animals;followed by anisocytosis 47.4% (9/19), 15.8% (3/19) and thrombocytopenia polychromasia. Plus, it was found neutrophilic leukocytosis and regenerative left shift in 10.5% (2/19), 5.3% (1/19) showed only a left shift Lymphocytosis 15.8% (3/19) and 15.8% (3/19), lymphopenia, monocytosis 21.1% (4/19) and 5.3% (1/19) basophils. Reactive lymphocytes were observed in 21.1% (4/19) and 26.3% in activatedmonocytes. In bone marrow 52.6%(10/19) exhibited hematopoetically active, 36.8% 7/19) 28.6% (5/19) myeloid hypoplasia associated with mild erythroid hyperplasia, and 10.5% (2/19) showed myeloid hyperplasia. The presence of the parasite was identified in 10.5% (2/19) of animals. Statistical analyses do not show any significant between clinic pathological evaluation and bone marrow alterations. Given to the results we can conclude that the hematological and bone marrow findings are not always correlated with the clinical presentation of the disease, as those depend on the combination of several factors such as the parasitic load, the immune system of the host and stage of disease. Thus, laboratory tests are subsidiary and essential to the evaluation and monitoring of animals infected with leishmania infantum chagasi.