CANINE EHRLICHIOSIS

Canine ehrlichiosis is a tick-borne disease caused by Ehrlichia canis, an intracellular parasite belonging to the Rickettsial genus, which infects red blood cells to the point of causing alteration of their functioning and destruction of platelets.
Ticks become infected by taking blood from a dog presenting with the disease, both in the larvae and nymph stages, act as a reservoir of disease and can transmit the infection to sensitive dogs for at least 150 days after acquiring the infection.
Ehrlichiosis has a worldwide spread; in Europe it is mainly present in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
The evolution and outcome of the infection depend on a large variety of factors, including the bacterial load received. The presence of concomitant diseases, sustained by other parasites carried by ticks or other pathogens, can influence the manifestations and severity.
There are no age or sex predispositions for ehrlichiosis, however the German Shepherd seems to be more susceptible than other breeds.

LEISHMANIOSIS

Canine Leishmaniasis is not easy to diagnose and treat. It is a parasitic pathology, caused by the protozoan Leishmania infantum, which is transmitted to the dog through the bite of an insect, the phlebotomist or sand fly. It looks like a small mosquito, both for its tapered appearance and for the fact that it is a blood-sucking fly.
Leishmania is a rather particular parasite because, in order to develop and multiply, it needs to have both the body of a phlebotomist and that of a mammal such as the dog available: the females of the phlebotomist have to bite the dog and suck the blood in order to lay the eggs. If the dog is infected, the Leishmania parasites move into the insect’s stomach where they develop and multiply, becoming infectious. Thus, when the sand flies bite a healthy dog, parasites are transmitted through the bite.

The sand flies strike especially in the hot season, from May to October just like mosquitoes, they appear mainly at sunset and are widespread in tropical and sub-tropical areas and throughout the Mediterranean basin, including islands. With the gradual but inexorable increase in the earth’s temperature, sand flies are slowly spreading even in areas with a more temperate climate, such as Northern Italy where there were no outbreaks until a few years ago.
In the dog there is substantially a generalized disease also called viscero-cutaneous form. Infection does not always lead to disease, in fact many infected dogs remain asymptomatic throughout their life, without developing clinical manifestations. The clinical picture of Leishmaniasis in dogs presents a great variability of symptoms and lesions that depend on the degree of infestation, the immune status of the host and the evolutionary moment of the disease and the infected organs.
When the disease develops, the symptoms are not immediate: they can appear after a few weeks or even a few months after the pappatacio bite, and they can occur individually or all together, at the same time.