Leishmaniasis, dogs - USA (04)

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2000 00:39:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: ProMED-mail <promed at promed.isid.harvard.edu>
Subject: PRO/AH> Leishmaniasis, dogs - USA (04)

LEISHMANIASIS, DOGS - USA (04)
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A ProMED-mail.org
<http://www.promedmail.org>

[see also:
Leishmaniasis, dogs - USA (02)                         20000424220647
Leishmaniasis, dogs - USA (03)                         20000426223625
Leishmaniasis, dogs - USA: RFI                         20000422235237]

[1]
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 10:50:35 -0400
From: Teresa McShane <teresa_mcshane at email.msn.com>


To keep the record straight.....NCSU (North Carolina State University), not
UNC (University of North Carolina), made the diagnosis. The CDC (Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention) was contacted after a NCSU small animal
medicine resident, a clinical pathologist, and 2 senior students made the
initial diagnosis in one of the hounds sent from New York.

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Teresa M. McShane, Ph.D.
e-mail: teresa_mcshane at msn.com

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[2]
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 09:28:09 -0400
From: Weaver T. Capt - 43MDG/SGOAM <Todd.Weaver at pope.af.mil>


As a veterinarian and Public Health Officer in the U.S. Air Force, I am
curious to know if data exists to support the following statement: 

"The disease occurs in humans and is common in domestic and wild dogs in
the Middle East, Italy and Spain. Some speculate U.S. servicemen may have
brought the disease home in their pets." 

Military working dogs and pets owned by service men and women are examined
by Army veterinarians and are subject to the same regulations as all other
dogs requiring health certificates.

Also, as graduate of the North Carolina State University, College of
Veterinary Medicine, I ask that we not be confused with the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "It would be nice to hear from either the
consulting veterinarian or those who made the diagnosis at UNC."

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J. TODD WEAVER, Capt, USAF,BSC
Chief, Public Health
Pope AFB 
e-mail: Todd.Weaver at pope.af.mil

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[3]
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 21:17:50 -0400
From: Janyce Brown <janycebrown at thesurfacereport.com>


My husband is a returning Gulf War Veteran and has received "service
- -connection" to Leishmaniasis: viscerotropic Leishmaniasis and one of the
leading authorities is Katherine Murray Leisure in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
She has treated over 600 veterans and civilians. She works out of Good
Samaritan Hospital. This is not only being transmitted by dogs,... the
Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Administration have
recognized for sometime  sand flies most likely are not the only vectors
and any vertebrate is a potential reservoir. There is even a select
steering committee on the status of _Leishmania tropica_. Look to the WHO
(World Health Organization) for statistics on co-infection with HIV (Human
Immunodeficiency Virus). ProMED-mail even carried information about and
outbreak in Central America this past year.

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Janyce E. Brown
Editor/Publisher
The Surface Report
e-mail: janycebrown at thesurfacereport.com

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[4]
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 14:22:43 -0600
From: Donoghue, Ann <donogha at HESKA.com>


An ELISA, using K39 as the diagnostic antigen, is available for the
diagnosis of canine leishmaniasis. 

References:
Sundar S, Reed SG, Singh VP, Kumar PC, Murray HW.  Rapid accurate field
diagnosis of Indian visceral leishmaniasis.  Lancet, 1998 Feb,351:9102,
563-5  

Houghton RL, Petrescu M, Benson DR, Skeiky YA, Scalone A, Badaro R, Reed
SG, Gradoni L. A cloned antigen (recombinant K39) of _Leishmania chagasi_
diagnostic for visceral leishmaniasis in human immunodeficiency virus type
1 patients and a prognostic indicator for monitoring patients undergoing
drug therapy.  J Infect Dis, 1998 May, 177:5, 1339-44  

Bhatia A, Daifalla NS, Jen S, Badaro R, Reed SG, Skeiky YA.  Cloning,
characterization and serological evaluation of K9 and K26: two related
hydrophilic antigens of _Leishmania chagasi_.  Mol Biochem Parasitol, 1999
Aug, 102:2, 249-61  

Jelinek T, Eichenlaub S, Loscher T. Sensitivity and specificity of a rapid
immuno-chromatographic test for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis.  Eur J
Clin Microbiol Infect Dis, 1999 Sep, 18:9, 669-70  

Singh S, Gilman Sachs A, Chang KP, Reed SG.  Diagnostic and prognostic
value of K39 recombinant antigen in Indian leishmaniasis.  J Parasitol,
1995 Dec, 81:6, 1000-3  

Burns JM Jr, Shreffler WG, Benson DR, Ghalib HW, Badaro R, Reed SG.
Molecular characterization of a kinesin-related antigen of _Leishmania
chagasi_ that detects specific antibody in African and American visceral
leishmaniasis.  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1993 Jan, 90:2, 775-9  

Gradoni L, De Luna R, Oliva G, Scalone A., Mondesire R., Simpson D. and GR
Frank.  Evaluation of a recombinant _Leishmania chagasi_ antigen as a
diagnostic marker for _Leishmania infantum_-infected dogs.  First World
Congress on Leishmaniosis, Istanbul, Turkey. May 1997. (Abstract No. 183).

Frank GR.  A recombinant antigen based diagnostic for canine visceral
Leishmania infections.  The National Managed Health Care Congress:
Veterinary Diagnostics, Tempe, Arizona, 8-9 Dec 1997

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Ann R Donoghue, DVM, MS
e-mail: donogha at HESKA.com