Category: Companion Animals

Diagnosis and Testing

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, they do have subtlety different meanings in medical and veterinary terminology. Whichever term you choose, global travel and climate change is likely to increase the demand for Leishmania diagnostic testing.

Canine Hosted Parasite With the Zoonotic Risk to Humans

Leishmaniasis usually refers to the abnormal conditions or characteristics caused by infection with the Leishmania infantum protozoan in humans. Leishmaniosis, on the other hand, is more often used to describe the disease process caused by the presence of this intracellular parasite in its primary host, the dog. However, in general use, the terms seem interchangeable.

Named to honour Scottish pathologist and Director of Army Medical Services, William Boog Leishman, the parasite is spread principally through bites from species of blood-sucking Phlebotominae mosquitoes generally known as sandflies. According to Leishvet.org, dogs and cats infected with Leismania.spp can exhibit a range of symptoms affecting their digestive, cutaneous, ocular, circulatory and nervous systems.

Enlarged Lymph Nodes and Skin Lesions May Aid Diagnosis

Most dogs carrying the parasite show no clinical symptoms and may live for many years before becoming obviously sick. As the clinical disease is almost always fatal, accurate and rapid diagnosis of leishmaniosis in dogs is critical whenever an infection is suspected.

Knowledge of an animal’s travel history can be a key factor in helping vets to diagnose a suspected case of leishmaniosis. Dogs showing enlarged lymph nodes (lymphadenomegaly) and skin lesions, with a history of travel to the Mediterranean or Africa and South America, may be prime candidates for diagnostic testing for Leishmania.

Vaccination, Insecticides and Fly Repellent Collars

Preventing infection in the first place is always the best course of action. Protective collars, repellent to fleas and ticks as well as sandflies, reduce the chance of the dog being bitten by the disease’s insect vector. Insecticides too, applied to areas of bare skin, protect those parts of a dog most vulnerable to sandfly predation.

Although there is currently no vaccine against the risk of Leishmania infection, a vaccine to strengthen the Leishmania immune response has been licensed for use in dogs since 2011. Owners of dogs intending to travel with their animals into Leishmania.spp endemic areas would be advised to consult their vets well in advance of their journey.

Rapid, Reliable Diagnostic Testing for L.infantum Antigens

Because of the disease’s long asymptomatic period, it is recommended that well-travelled pets should be tested for pre-existing infection, especially before any vaccine is administered or further travel considered. FASTest Leish is the long shelf-life, simple colour-change test giving clear-cut antibody mediated results in 15 minutes.

Visit our website to see our full range of Veterinary Products www.vetlabsupplies.co.uk or contact us on 01798 874567.

Still The Best Protection Against ‘Tracker Dog Disease’ Ehrlichiosis

Environmental change is exposing Britain’s dogs to more and more diseases once confined to warmer Mediterranean and tropical climes. Diseases spread by ‘vectors’ including fleas, mites and ticks pose a special risk. One such disease, Canine Ehrlichiosis, is of growing concern to UK vets and dog owners.

Tracker Dog Disease

Called ‘tracker dog disease’ and tropical pancytopenia in the US, due to its infection of military dogs serving in Vietnam, Canine Ehrlichiosis is also known as canine rickettsiosis or canine haemorrhagic fever. The infection spreads from dog to dog in the saliva of bites from the nymphs of the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus.

Acute symptoms of the disease include; fever, anorexia, depression, with longer-term chronic symptoms such as anaemia, weight loss, depression, petechiae, pale mucous membranes and oedema. In the most severe cases, infected dogs may die from massive haemorrhaging, severe debilitation or secondary infections. Some infected dogs show no clinical signs and remain as carriers for many years, but may suddenly develop chronic symptoms.

What Causes the Symptoms?

Canine Ehrlichiosis symptoms may be caused by infection with one of a number of Ehrlichia spp. pathogens including Ehrlichia canis. E. canis is widespread in the warmer parts of many countries including France, Greece, Spain and Italy. In 2013 a Tibetan Terrier in London with no history of foreign travel outside of the UK, or known contact with travelled dogs, was diagnosed with E.canis.

The pathogenic agent of Ehrlichiosis is an intracellular Gram-negative bacteria that penetrates and destroys white blood cells. Ehrlichia bacteria are similar to other pathogenic invaders including Rickettsiacea and Anaplasma spp.

In the last few decades, interest in Ehrlichioses has spread beyond the veterinary profession. In 1986, the first diagnosis of the condition in a human patient indicated Ehrlichia’s zoonotic potential and risk to human health.

MegaCor FASTest Ehrlichia canis is a is a rapid immunochromatographic screening test for antibodies produced in response to Ehrlichia canis infection. As with other kits in the FASTest veterinary diagnostic range, the all-in-one test kit is simple to use, responds positively with a quick, clear-cut colour-change with a shelf life of up to 24 months even at room temperature storage.

Warm Weather and Parasite Activity

Although there are no current vaccines against Ehrlichia infections, most dogs recover from the acute and subclinical phases. With the approach of warmer weather and increasing parasite activity, preventing canine ehrlichiosis, and other tick-borne diseases including Lymes disease and Borrelia burgdorferi, will best be achieved by avoiding exposure to the tick vector. Your vet will be able to advise on the most suitable tick preventative measures for your dog and lifestyle.

To find out more about our large range of veterinary diagnostic test kits visit our website: www.vetlabsupplies.co.uk or Telephone: 01798 874567

It’s Not the Blood They Suck, It’s What They Leave Behind

Ticks are an unpleasant experience for dogs and people. Unlikely to cause lasting harm in themselves, the diseases and infections they carry, however, are another more serious story. FASTest Lyme and FASTest Bor-In-Tick help vets in the fight against Tick-Borne Diseases.

Cold Blooded Parasite Seeks Warm Blooded Host

Having no way to regulate their body heat, ticks are not normally inactive through the winter but begin actively feeding in the spring and early summer. In the heat summer, some species of tick reduce their parasitism greatly, though ticks often reach a second peak of activity in the autumn.

Most likely to sink its jaws into your dog is the sheep tick (Ixodes ricinus), although ticks more commonly found on hedgehogs, (Ixodes hexagonus) or hosted by foxes and badgers (Ixodes canisuga), might also help themselves to a blood meal from you or your canine companion.

The Three Blood-Sucking Stages of a Tick’s Life

Ticks have a 3-stage life cycle. Depending on the species of tick, each stage might feed on a different host or take a repeat meal from the same species type.

After hatching from over-wintering eggs, the six-legged tick larvae climb plant stems to hitch a lift and scrounge a blood-meal from a passing warm-blooded animal.

Suitably fed, the larvae releases its grip and falls to the ground where it grows, moults and develops into its second, immature form as an 8-legged nymph. The nymph stage repeats the behaviour of its younger self, again feeding and dropping off into the warm moist undergrowth where it matures into its hard coated, 8-legged adult form.

After mating, the adult female tick climbs out of the undergrowth one final time to suck the blood that will nourish her eggs before dropping back to earth to lay the eggs that will lie dormant and hatch out in the following spring.

In-Tick Test Puts Vets One Step Ahead of Borrelia-Lymes

Heavy infestations of ticks can take enough blood from their hosts to cause anaemia, and the wound caused by a tick bite can become infected, especially if its mouthparts remain embedded in the skin. The most serious potential for sickness and even death from tick bites comes from their role as vectors for blood-borne parasites. Perhaps the highest profile Tick-Borne Disease (TDB) is Lymes Disease caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi.

Lymes disease, in a blood sample from a suspected infection, is rapidly and reliably diagnosed with the FASTest Lyme diagnostic kit. Now, with FASTest Bor-in-Tick, Vets can test for B.burgdorferi in ticks found on animals or in their environment, putting vets and their clients one step ahead of a potential Lyme Borrelia outbreak.

To find out more about our large range of veterinary diagnostic test kits visit our website: www.vetlabsupplies.co.uk or Telephone: 01798 874567