Perfil clínico-epidemiológico de cães infectados com Leishmania infantum atendidos no Hospital Veterinário da Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis is a vector-borne parasitic zoonosis of different sand fly species, caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania. This disease is endemic in several regions of Brazil, where dogs are identified as the reservoir of infection in urban environments. The objective of this work was to evaluate the clinical-epidemiological profile of dogs naturally infected with Leishmania infantum treated at the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco. In the period from 2015 to 2022, 130 dogs from the Metropolitan Region of Recife of different breeds, ages and sexes were included, in which all had a positive parasitological diagnosis and reagents to the immunochromatographic test. The analysis of the clinical-epidemiological profile of the animals revealed that the infection was more frequent in the age group of dogs from one to three years old. The highest frequencies found regarding the origin of the animals were: Paulista (45.38%), Recife (14.62%), Ilha de Itamaracá (6.92%), Jaboatão dos Guararapes (6.92%) and Olinda (6 .92%). In the evaluation of clinical signs, the highest frequency is found among symptomatic animals. Mixed breed dogs, from Paulista, between 1 and 3 years old, male and symptomatic, presented the predominant clinical-epidemiological profile for CVL. In this sense, it is possible to conclude that dogs with this profile need more attention in the clinical-epidemiological diagnosis, being necessary to include CVL as a differential diagnosis in these dogs.