Clinical, parasitological and serologic studies ofvisceral Leishmaniasis in Karaj and suburbia,referred to the veterinary teaching hospital

Mediterranean visceral leishmaniasis is one of the most important and dangerous zoonotic diseases that affectpeople and domestic dogs. It is a severe, often fatal disease spread from dog-to-dog by sand fly bite. Dogs are considered the main reservoirs for Leishmania infantum infection and they can display illness signs too. The prevalence of cutaneous lesions in dogs with symptomatic leishmaniasis ranges between 56% to 90%. In the presentinvestigation, a total of 503 dogs were referred to the veterinary medicine hospital Islamic azad university- Karajbranch during a three-year study, 17 dogs suspected for leishmaniasis on the basis of clear clinical signs such ascutaneous lesions, epistaxis, weight loss, anorexia, hepatomegaly and splenomegaly, lameness, and keratitis. Inthis group of dogs, presence of leishmaniasis has been confirmed by parasitological and direct agglutination test(DAT) in ten dogs. We could conclude that the presence of clinical signs and direct agglutination test are valuablediagnostic tools for practitioners when visceral leishmaniasis is suspected.