What is Leishmaniasis?
La Leishmaniosis es una enfermedad producida por un parásito protozoario que invade los órganos de nuestros perros, causando graves lesiones que comprometen sus vidas. En humanos es la segunda causa de muerte en el mundo por enfermedad parasitaria tras la Malaria. Por fortuna, las cepas europeas no parasitan con la frecuencia y gravedad que en Suramérica a las personas. Desgraciadamente si lo hacen en nuestros perros, causando una enfermedad que les acompañará el resto de sus días. Tratamiento de la leishmaniosis en Benalmádena.
How is leishmaniasis spread?
When a mosquito of the genus Flebotomus bites an infected dog but not treated, enters in its body the leishmanias, after passing in their salivary glands two weeks and a developmental stage of the parasite, the mosquito will forward it to another dog that it bites. The transmission period of the disease in our area starts in spring and goes up to the months of September October, depending on the year.
So ... Why don´t all dogs get sick?
Our dogs get bitten by sandflies with Leishmania inside, but their natural immunity generally rejects the, only at certain times they are able to break through the first defensive barriers of the body and then the disease will develop.
Is there more predisposed breeds?
Yes, generally they are breeds from central Europe or from places where historically they has not lived with this disease, are very sensitive, for example. The boxer, the rottweiller, Samoyed or general Bracos, to say a few examples, however, our breeds like Andalusian Hound, have acquired an immunity that makes them resistant to the disease, so there are few hounds that we have diagnosed with leishmaniasis over the past twenty-five years of our clinic.
What are the symptoms?
Although three classical forms have been studied, cutaneous, visceral and viscerocutantea, many atypical symptoms, like articurlars, oculars ...
Why does it not heal?
With the treatments available today, a dog with this condition can live normally and with a life expectancy equal to another, but we must always be on top of the treatment, because we still don´t have any further treatment to kill the circulating forms of the parasite in blood, and also kill the stationed in the bone marrow without affecting it.
What can we do to prevent it?
The truth is that with the appearance of specific sandfly repellent products, the prevalence of the disease has dropped much, products as Advantix spot-on or deltrametrina necklaces make it very difficult to transfer, all the more the development of the disease.
Today we also have a vaccine, another weapon in the ongoing fight against the parasite for the treatment of leishmaniasis in benalmádena.
