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LEISHMANIASIS
Leishmaniasis is a very
severe illness and can end with the death of the animal.
The bite of the mosquito, called “butterfly mosquito” or Phlebotomus,
transmits Leishmaniosis into the dog's organism, a
riquetzia called Leishmania infantum. Against Leishmania
no vaccination exists up to now, but there is medication
to treat it.
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Where is Leishmaniasis active?
We
find Leishmaniasis in the north of Latin-America and in
the Mediterranean zone, where it is endemic. Also in
Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Greece, Turkey,
Israel, Egypt, Libya and Morocco.
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What
are the Symptoms?
One of the first symptoms is the loss of hair around
the eyes and the nose. In almost all the cases we can see
that the dog has appetite but can notice a weight loss. It
shows inflammation of the skin on the head and paws; but
mostly in the parts where there is contact with the
ground.
In the last stages of the illness, we can notice long and
soft claws.
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What can I do if I think that my dog has
Leishmaniasis?
Bring
your dog to the Vet to do a blood test. Do tests every
year before the
symptoms appear. Ensure that your dog lives longer and
with a better quality of life.
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Is there a treatment for my dog?
Yes, but there is the possibility that the symptoms
can reappear. The medications are antimonies; it is
necessary to inject them daily for a period of one – two
weeks. There are also oral tablets.
Recently,
was approved a new treatment against the Leishmania. It is
a medicine that giving this during 28 days, eliminate in
an 90 % the Leishmania with no damage in the kidneys.
This
new medicine ( Milteforan ) give a new possibility to treat
this illness; with so lesser collateral effects in your
dog.
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What is the incubation time of this illness?
It can be from 3 month to 18 months. It is very rare
that Leishmanias stays undetected and remain in an
immature stage with no symptoms or development. Sometimes
– but also very rarely, the organism eliminates
Leishmaniosis by itself.
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What is the cycle of life of the parasite?
In the doIIn the dog, the Leishmania lives in special
cells called Macrofagus (one of the white cells). These are
found in the blood, skin and different organs. The
parasite has a round form and its reproduction is by
cellular division. If the mosquito bites an infected dog,
it takes the infected cells through the skin. In the
mosquito's stomach the cells are broken and release the
Leishmania. This parasite (Leishmania) reproduces itself
after days in many immature forms. Then, the female
mosquito, starts to search for its aliment: the blood. If this mosquito bites the dog for the second time, it puts the eggs
under the skin, producing an inflammatory reaction in the
place of the bite. Preferably in the lips, nose or ear
(where the access of the mosquito is easier because of
less hair). There, the parasites are captured by the
macrofagus and will spread to different organs of the dog.
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Can I catch this illness if this mosquito
(flebotomus) bites
me?
Yes,
but the risk is very small and this illness in humans is
easy to treat (except in cases of humans with AIDS,
because the immune system is deteriorated).
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How can I recognise the mosquito and where
does it live?
This
mosquito is very small. They have hair, 2 wings (2.5- 3mm
long) and their buzz is hardly noticeable.
Their colour The colour is from “kaki" to
brown. When they want to bite, they jump with the back
legs and wings wide open open… open on the dog's body.
They bite people and dogs. If the person is allergic, it
will feel like your skin is burning bur burning.
The
mosquito is rarely seen during the day - normally they
hide in holes until the twilight. This mosquito doesn't
live on the beach, but you can find them in the garden, or
any humid place. When a mosquito lays eggs, the
"larva" will hatch one week later.
As
from this moment, the cycle of growth from the egg to
adult takes 2 months. In the Mediterranean see, the
activity of the mosquito starts in May until September and
when the temperatures continue to stay warm – they can
last until October. The last generation of
"larva’s" before winter ends the growth - they
enter in hibernation.
Males
and females feed from sugar from the plants. Females only
also feed on blood (necessary for the maturation of the
eggs) they lay around 100 eggs in the ground near
organic residues.
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Does a vaccination exist against Leishmaniosis?
Actually,
in Brasil there is a vaccine against L.
tropica, that prevents Leishmaniosis visceral, but the
problem is: this vaccine produces collateral effects
in a 35 % of the dogs ( anorexia, apathy, vomits, etc),
and we think that this is a big risk.
We
recomend to protect the dog with repellent collars or
repelent pipets.
This article was
extracted from the publications of Victoria C. Calcagno in
the free monthly newspaper VIVA!.
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