RESUMO
Visceral Leishmaniasis is an infection disease of chronic evolution caused by the protozoan Leishmania sp. The main clinical manifestations in dogs are anemia, progressive weight loss, lymphadenopathy, hepatomegaly, and cutaneous lesions. The heart involvement in visceral leishmaniasis has been rarely reported. The aim of this work was to describe the presence of amastigote forms of Leishmania sp. and associated lesions in the heart of naturally infected dog. For diagnosis analysis, serological tests for anti-Leishmania antibodies and fine-needle aspirative bone marrow cytology were used. The samples (right ventricle and ear skin) were histologically evaluated and processed for imunodetection of Leishmania sp. The most significant histological change was an intense, non-specific, chronic pericarditis associated with intracytoplasmatic amastigotes within macrophages. The tissue parasitism was confirmed through positive imunomarcation. This is a first report of pericardium compromisement of naturally Leishmania infected adult dog.
RESUMO
Canine visceral leishmaniasis is an endemic disease in Latin America caused by Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi and transmitted to man and animals by infected blood-sucking sandflies) of the genus Lutzomyia. Dogs are considered to be the primary domestic reservoir of disease because they present an intense cutaneous parasitism. The aim of this study was to evaluate the intensity of the inflammatory process and to compare it to the parasite load of tissue from two different sites of the ear skin of dogs naturally infected with Leishmania chagasi. We think that exist a specific anatomical region that exhibits a relatively higher rate of parasitism. For diagnostic analysis, serological tests were carried out using the indirect fluorescence antibody test (IFAT) and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Twelve animals naturally infected with Leishmania chagasi were euthanatized with a lethal dose of Sodium Thiopental and T61. During the necropsy, fragments of the extremity and middle anatomical regions of the ear were collected. All tissues were fixed in a 10% formalin solution and then paraffin-embedded for histopathological (HE) and immunohistochemical analysis. The streptoavidin-peroxidase immunohistochemistry method was used to detect tissue amastigotes using optical microscopy. Our results indicated a chronic inflammatory reaction, ranging from discrete to an intense