Presence of Leishmania spp. in a dermal nodule of a dog negative at parasitological tests of lymph node and bone marrow

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is a zoonosis of great importance, it is a chronic disease that presents varied clinical signs, making its diagnosis difficult. The definitive diagnosis of the disease is based on clinical signs associated with parasitological examinations, which in addition to being fast, have high specificity. The objective of this study was to report the detection of amastigote forms of Leishmania spp. through cytology of dermal nodules from a non-reactive dog for parasitological tests on bone marrow, popliteal and right superficial cervical and left lymph nodes. A female dog with a history of dermatological problems and the appearance of dermal nodules in the dorsal and interdigital regions was treated about two years ago. On physical examination, a slight alopecia was noted in the dorsal region, with desquamation. It was possible to see nodules of about 3-5 cm well defined, solid and with an inflamed aspect in the dorsal and interdigital regions, and the animal also presented an onychogrifosis. After clinical evaluation, bone marrow, popliteal and superficial cervical lymph nodes were performed, these being negative for parasites. With this, cytological samples of dermal nodules were collected, with amastigote forms of Leishmania spp. It is concluded that dermal nodule cytology was a complementary method for diagnosing leishmaniasis in a non-reactive dog for parasitological examination of the spinal cord and lymph node.