Imported canine visceral leishmaniasis in Denmark

The first case of imported visceral leishmaniasis in the dog in Denmark, and probably in Scandinavia, is described. The dog, a 5-year-old female wire-haired bird dog, became ill about 21 months after it had returned from a year's stay in Spain (Malaga). The clinical signs were fever, lameness, enlargement of the popliteal lymph nodes and weight loss. A tentative clinical diagnosis of leukaemia was discarded after the microscopic recognition of Leishmania organisms in a biopsy from a popliteal lymph node (Fig. 1). The diagnosis was confirmed by the demonstration of the kinetoplast in the organisms by electron microscopy (Fig. 3 a-b). The organisms measured about 2 micron in diameter indicating that the species in question was Leishmania donovani infantum, which is indigenous to Spain and other Mediterranian countries. The dog was killed, and Leishmania were found in sections of mesenteric and popliteal lymph nodes, spleen, liver, lung and kidneys. The most interesting histologic features were interstitial nephritis, dominated by numerous plasma cells and membranous glomerulonephritis (Fig. 2). It is suggested that the glomerulonephritis is immune complex-mediated as it is in human visceral leishmaniasis. The risk of bringing dogs in and out of the Mediterranean region is stressed, and veterinarians are advised to have leishmaniasis in mind when they are confronted with dogs taken ill with non-specific symptoms after a stay in that part of the world, even if as much as two years have elapsed between the return and the onset of clinical signs.