Fao Sqad.

[NoMercy]

Hi Sqad

I'm sad to report that Alfie has tested positive for Leishmania. I'm being told that humans can can catch this from dogs. Can you please advise?

[daffy654]

I thought you could only catch it from the sandfly, not from the infected animal. I could be wrong though.

I hope Alfie is not feeling too poorly with it.x

[society]

NoMercy, I was curious to know what this is and came across a very simply and straight forward article, and thought it might be useful to you. http://www.parasitesinhumans.org/leishmania.html

(yeah I know I'm not Sqad ;) )

[woofgang]

NoM there is a rescue website called dogpages who often have threads from people whose dogs have Leishmania, you might like to go and post there.

[Sqad]

I am not an expert NoM.....but you cannot catch Leishmaniasis from your dog.

[NoMercy]

Thanks for the replies. The vet is talking lifelong treatment with Allopurinol.

[woofgang]

cut and pasted from the dogpages site, also mentions a facebook group
Hi,.
This is the link to the FB page with info on...
Canine Leishmaniasis Community

OK....will try to keep it as brief as I can for you (anyone is welcome to Pm me with any other / ongoing questions at any time)

Curro pitched up on my driveway from my neighbours along the mountain road when (the Vet believes) he was just under a year old. He was one of their goat herding dogs & was kept outside, often chained, day & night.

CURRO'S PRESENTING SYMPTOMS
Leish can often take years to present & is usually only seen in dogs over a year old, so due to his age & despite my just "knowing", he said it was very unlikely that this was Curro's problem. Physically, he was very thin, lethargic at times for such a young dog, had very dry, scaly skin, with bizarre patchy fur (some longer & thicker than other parts). He also had numerous little scabs all over his body, particularly the underside where he had no fur & was constantly worrying at these......again, the Vet thought this may be down to the way he had been kept before (staple diet for many dogs in these parts can be simply stale, mouldy bread & water) & down to fleas, ticks, as he obviously had no protection from them.......
When I insisted on testing him, the Vet was shocked at the result & it transpired that he may have been extremely unlucky & had caught the disease transplacentally, before birth.

CLASSIC EARLY SYMPTOMS
Symptoms of Leishmaniasis in dogs include weight loss, an aversion to exercise, swelling of the joints, lameness, alopecia, (particularly around the eyes, nose & tips of ears), bleeding, and swelling of lymph nodes. Skin lesions and kidney failure frequently develop in afflicted dogs. The disease can be fatal in dogs as the organs gradually get severely damaged........

BUT if detected early & before vital organs are irrepairably damaged, there is NO reason why the dog cannot live a long, happy life!!!

THE FLY ITSELF
The name itself is misleading, as the sandfly which is responsible for Leish is not just commonly found in sandy areas i.e. beaches, but in wooded areas too. There are different types, but the problem is the phlebotomine Sand fly (basically means vein (blood) sucking.) It is reported to be most active at / between dusk & dawn & during this time, the dog can be bitten hundreds of times. It is a tiny fly, smaller than a mosquito, with a body length of 2-3mm. It's brown coloured in daylight, but covered densely with oily hairs, which gives them a white appearance when illuminated, making them hard to see with the human eye.....

INITIAL TREATMENT FOR CURRO (& HIGH POSITIVE CASES)
There is, at present, no cure once a dog has been diagnosed positive (a vaccine has now been developed under various names to help prevent Leish & the Scalibor collar is widely available & the effective ingredient is Deltamethrin.

Curro's regime initially was a 1 month course of Glucantime - 5mg twice daily - injected into the back of his neck, this serves to place the dog in remission, although not a "totally clean" recovery....
in conjunction with Zyloric (Allopurinol) tablets, again twice daily, which are given according to the bodyweight of the infected dog & serve to prevent multiplication of the surviving parasites.

He was then placed on the Allopurinol tablets for a year, at the end of which he was titre tested to check the levels of Leish & had a bio-chemistry work -up done, (both by way of ordinary blood test) to ensure his liver & kidneys were working properly & had not been compromised.

There now seem to be 2 schools of thought - 1 that the dog should remain on the Allopurinol at maintenance dosage for life & the other that if the dog becomes / remains asymptomatic, there is no need for medication, just monitoring by way of annual titre test to ensure optimum health is perpetuated.....

[woofgang]

and the rest...
When Curro was tested the time before last, his levels had dropped to within the "negative" range and my English vet was unsure if he should continue with meds or not. i contact my Spanish vet, who had always been really good with him & she advised not to keep him medicated unnecessarily, but to titre test annually, or straight away if I felt that he was showing signs of a relapse........

It has also been suggested that diet & lots of love also help in promoting health......

Almost 5 years on, his latest tests in the last month or so show that his levels are the lowest ever (1.1 from 6 last time!!!!), his liver & kidneys are still fine.........for a dog who the Vet stated would have died in the near future left untreated, due to the severity of his levels, he is happy, healthy, spoilt rotten, the bane of my life & I wouldn't be without him!!!!!

Here's Mr. Chocolate Grumpy Chops himself with Fred, waiting for a treat!!!

[woofgang]

facebook link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canine-leishmaniasis/253815474643017

after the last sentence in the second post was a picture which of course didn't post into AB

[Sqad]

NoM....from what i know about dogs (very little) it is not uncommon to have false positive tests for Leishmaniasis.
I don't know what the symptoms were with Alfie, but I thought that biopsy of a lesion was the ultimate diagnostic tool.

[NoMercy]

SQad, Alfie has stiff joints and scabby skin on the tips of his ears and elbows, previously diagnosed as eczema and mange. A blood test was positive for Leishmania.

Thanks everyone for your replies.