First of all, we will start by explaining what leishmaniasis is. This disease is a serious pathology that dogs can suffer, but also people. Leishmaniasis is caused by the female Phlebotomus mosquito by biting and transmitting the flagellated protozoan of the genus Leishmania to the dog or person. For this to happen, the mosquito has had to bite an animal sick with leishmaniasis before and thus become a carrier of the disease.
Carrier mosquitoes tend to bite at night and in the warmer times of the year , that is, from late spring to early fall. For this reason, we should not let our dog stay outside at night.
In Spain there is a high prevalence of the Leishmania mosquito, found mainly in Madrid, Catalonia, Aragon, Castilla La Mancha, Andalusia, Valencian Community, Murcia and the Balearic Islands . Only the Cantabrian coast and the Canary Islands as a whole are spared its annoying presence.
Leishmaniasis is divided into two types: cutaneous type and visceral type. The first produces symptoms such as hair loss, change in skin color, cracks in the muzzle and pads , dry skin, abnormal nail growth and the second, which affects the internal organs, manifests with loss of weight, injuries to the kidneys, liver, bones (lameness), eyes, muscles …
No method of preventing leishmaniasis is 100% effective , but we must take steps to avoid this disease that can be fatal to our pet.
Measures to protect the dog from the mosquito bite:
1. Put a deworming collar on him.
2. Keep the preventive pipette calendar up to date.
3. Ask your veterinarian if it is convenient to give the dog the vaccine against leishmaniasis and do the test.
4. Don’t let your pet sleep outside in the summer or spring.
Diagnosing leishmaniasis in a dog is not easy. The reason is that there is not yet a single laboratory test that offers an unequivocal result. Furthermore, not all dogs that carry the disease eventually develop it.
The tests used to detect the pathology are the leishmania test , which gives results in just 10 minutes and serves as a preliminary test; the IFI (Indirect Immunofluorescence) technique, recommended internationally and detecting both the presence of antibodies and their quantity, and the ELISA test.
If you think your dog may have leishmaniasis, take him to the vet.
