engleski

COMPARISON OF THE PATHOLOGICAL HISTOLOGICAL, CYTOLOGICAL AND GENOTYPING RESULTS BETWEEN IMIDOKARB-DIPROPIONATE TREATED AND UNTREATED DOGS INFECTED WITH BABESIA CANIS

Introduction: Postmortal descriptions of canine babesiosis lesions are sparse. In order to estimate tissues destruction despite appropriate therapy in this fatal haemolytic disease, we described and compared lesions of six dogs naturally infected with Babesia canis treated with imidokarb-dipropionate with the lesions of three untreated dogs. Materials and Methods: Clinical data, necropsy and histological findings were classified based on tissue destruction and imidokarb-dipropionate application. Parasitemia levels were defined in blood smears before and after treatment, tissue imprints of parenchymal organs and histo- slides. Blood before and after treatment, kidneys, myocardium, lungs, bone marrow and spleen samples were screened for presence of Anaplasma/Ehrlichia, Babesia/Theileria, Bartonella and Rickettsia species, and Leptospira interrogans. Results: Major differences in macroscopic and microscopic lesions between treated and untreated dogs weren’t found. Apart from hepatocellular atrophy, severe splenic histiocytosis and sludging within glomerular, myocardial and brain capillaries, all other lesions were unspecific, reflecting haemolytic disease. Lower parasitemia levels were connected with imidokarb-dipropionate application. Although all microscopic samples from two treated dogs were negative for merozoites, B. canis DNA was amplified from all dogs, mostly from myocardium and kidney. DNA from other pathogens wasn’t amplified. Conclusions: B. canis infection can be easily distinguished from other haemolytic causes in untreated dogs by evidence of merozoites on tissue imprints and histo-slides. Microscopic detectability of merozoites is unpredictable in treated dogs. It is possible to detect B. canis DNA in tissue samples from treated dogs even though merozoites are not visible microscopically. Despite the therapy there were no differences in tissue lesions.

B. canis ; imidokarb-dipropionate ; dog ; postmortal diagnostic ; PCR ; sensitivity

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