Avaliação do diagnóstico citológico da infecção por Leishmania infantum e detecção molecular da co-infecção de hemoparasitos em cães

Abstract

The diagnosis of infection by Leishmania infantum remains a challenge in the medical clinic of small animals, as a detection of coinfection with other pathogens. Thus, the work aimed to evaluate the cytological diagnosis of infection by Leishmania infantile and to detect a co-infection of hemoparasites in dogs with natural infection by L. infantile. For this, bone marrow, lymph node, skin and swabe set of 29 animals of different race, sex and age with positive serological diagnosis for L. infantum for evaluation of the best biological sample for clinical diagnosis, and blood samples from 72 animals of different race, sex and age with positive serological diagnosis for co-infection research. The results showed that lymph node cytology shows 61.1% (22/29) of positivity for amastigest forms of L. infantum, followed by exfoliative skin cytology with 47.2% (17/29) and, finally, swabe conjunctival with 33.3% (12/29). The animals analyzed in the direct search for hematozoa only 1.39% (1/72) were positive, for Hepatozoon canis. The PCR reaction was observed to amplify the DNA of H. canis in 8.33% (6/72) and B. vogeli DNA detected in 2.78% (2/72). There was no co-infection between hemoparasitosis in the direct and molecular diagnosis. It concluded that the absence of spinal biopsy, a lymph node cytology is a better sample for diagnosis of CVL in the clinical routine, and that there is the presence of co-infection between Babesia vogeli, Hepatozoon canis and Leishmania infantum in Pernambuco.