Canine Leishmaniasis (CanL) is due to Leishmania infantum (syn. Leishmania
chagasi) and is endemic in Mediterranean countries, Portugal, Latin America
and Southern Asia. In the last few decades, imported and even
autochthonous cases have been recorded in traditionally non-endemic areas
such as Central and Northen Europe and Northen America. This is possibly
due to a wider spread of the vector and especially to a larger numbers of
travelling dogs. Many studies about CanL have been published in the last
years and have contributed in understanding different aspects of this disease,
including the alternative ways of transmission and the pathologic
mechanisms underlying the clinical findings. However, CanL still remains a
very challenging disease to diagnose, treat and prevent. Moreover, it is still
very difficult to predict the outcome given the low numbers of controlled
studies evaluating markers of prognosis. So, the main aims of the present
thesis were to investigate new clinico-pathological aspects of CanL and to
possibly identify useful prognostic factors. The first study demonstrated that
a significant proportion of dogs with leishmaniasis have increased serum cTnI
concentration, suggesting that CanL can cause cardiac disease, mainly myoand
endocarditis. In the second study, the iron status and its relationship
with C-reactive protein (CRP) was for the first time investigated in CanL. The
results indicated that dogs with leishmaniasis have decreased serum iron,
total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), unsaturated iron-binding capacity (UBIC)
and percentage of transferrin saturation and increased concentrations of
ferritin. Increased CRP and decreased TIBC are also risk factors for moratility.
Finally, since the disease is progressively changing its geographical
distribution, the last investigation was conducted in the United Kingdom
(UK), currently considered a non-endemic country. The majority of dogs that
were diagnosed of leishmaniasis have been adopted from an endemic area
(especially from the Mediterranean countries) respect a minority that have
travelled to those regions. No autochthonous cases were recognised. Purebreed
dogs and those that were classified in stage D according to the Canine
Leishmaniasis Working Group guidelines were at higher risk of death.
Differently to what has been reported in endemic countries, serology titre at diagnosis and IRIS staging for chronic kidney disease did not influence the
outcome.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TDX_UAB/oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/385106 |
| Date | 22 April 2016 |
| Creators | Silvestrini, Paolo |
| Contributors | Pastor, Josep, Planellas, Marta, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Medicina |
| Publisher | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Source Sets | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
| Format | 163 p., application/pdf |
| Source | TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa) |
| Rights | L'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi queda condicionat a l'acceptació de les condicions d'ús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/, info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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