European countries like Finland have begun to warn of the extension of leptoporosis in dogs, a known but rare disease in European countries, after several diagnosed cases.
According to the Finnish media Ilsta Sanomat the veterinarian Henna Jaffe, owner of Hamina Animal Clinic in Finland where one of the cases has occurred, the main indicators are ““high levels of inflammation, fever, high liver values and thrombocytopenia, that is, a lower than normal number of platelets in the blood.”
The disease is caused by a bacteria belonging to the group Leptospirawhich is transmitted especially through rats and survives in humid environments. The disease can be transmitted from animals to humans, especially through the urine of an infected animal.
Despite this, there is the vaccine for canine leptospirosis, which protects against clinical disease, but not contagion. The main symptoms are fever, indigestion, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, yellowing of the mucous membranes or skin, and excessive drinking and urination. In very severe cases and not treated in time, leptoporosis can be fatal. He treatment is usually effectivealthough more serious cases may require intensive care in a veterinary hospital.
In Spain, as pointed out at the AVEPA-SEVC Congress by Xavier Roura, from the internal medicine service of the Hospital Clínic Veterinari of the UABthe prevalence of the disease has increased in recent years. In fact, at the event it was emphasized that In 2018 there were nearly 2,000 cases in Europe.
In it, Fernando Fariñas, CEO of the Ynmun Group (Centers for Immunology, Infectious Diseases and Public Health) recalled that there are 21 species of the bacteria, “ten of them are pathogenic.” “There are more than 250 serovars. Epidemiologically speaking,” he noted and recalled that it is the “most ubiquitous zoonosis worldwide.”
As indicated, Although it is present throughout Spain, in the north it is 38%, a somewhat higher seroprevalence than in the rest of the country.due to weather conditions. At the congress, they put on the table the importance of early diagnosis “because there is a 50% mortality rate.”
For her part, Federica Burgio, scientific manager of MSD Animal Health, stressed the importance of vaccinationwith annual immunity, both in adult dogs and puppies. In addition, he highlighted Nobivac L4, “a quadrivalent vaccine against canine leptospirosis adapted to the Spanish epidemiological situation”, which “controls infection and renal excretion.”
