[leish-l] Leishmania in Antigua? The final chapter?

Carlos Brisola Marcondes cbrisola at mbox1.ufsc.br
Fri Sep 23 08:45:24 BRT 2005


Dear all,
I would like to remember the "visceral leishmaniasis" in dogs in Rio Grande 
do Sul.
   People from Federal University of Santa Maria, in the centre of the most 
southern state of Brazil, published a paper in a local scientific journal, 
saying they had found five dogs with visceral leishmaniasis in that 
municipality (another paper showed some Cavia with a big Leishmania).
   After an effort of six months, I got the car, the material and the 
colaboration of several colleagues and I went there to examine dogs. All 
examined 203 dogs, many of them related to the "positive" dogs, were 
serollogically negative. We concluded that there was some mistake, or VL is 
extremely rare in dogs of the region.
   Please, check in "Marcondes, C. B. et al. 2003 Revista da Sociedade 
Brasileira de Medicina Tropical, 36(4):399-401 (in Portuguese, abstract in 
English)".

Sincerely yours
prof. dr. Carlos Brisola Marcondes
Depto de Microbiologia e Parasitologia/CCB
UFSC- Campus Trindade
88040-900 Florianópolis (SC)
BRAZIL


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Davidson, Robert N" <r.n.davidson at imperial.ac.uk>
To: "Antonio Teixeira" <ateixeir at unb.br>; "Richard Ashford" 
<ashford at liverpool.ac.uk>; "Arias, Jorge Dr." 
<Jorge.Arias at fairfaxcounty.gov>; <leish-l at fat.org.br>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 4:21 AM
Subject: [leish-l] Leishmania in Antigua? The final chapter?


Dear All,
Just to update you on this mystery case:
1. The lesions when swabbed grew Staph aureus, and as I thought
clinically that these were bacterial lesions (impetigo-like), not CL, I
recommended antibiotics/ topical antiseptics. The responsible clinician
(who was hundreds of miles away from me) was initially unconvinced by my
suggestion, but soon became convinced by the expert opinion of this
forum, that L mexicana was very very unlikely. They tried my treatment,
and the lesions have all gone. Let's hope they stay gone. So this is an
excellent example of how electronic comms can help a person none of us
have ever met.
2. The biopsy on which the reference lab in saw amastigotes has been
reviewed and the amastigotes have not been seen again. I have not been
shown the slides, but I just wonder whether they may have been looking
at Gram positive cocci. I can't explain the PCR being positive for L
mexicana complex, except by suggesting lab error. The lab had no other
cases of L mexicana around that time.
3. For interest, I attach some pictures of the skin lesions - I have
never seen the patient, these were emailed to me.
All the best, and many thanks for your assistance, I hope you had as
much fun as I did.
Rob
Dr Robert N Davidson MD  FRCP DTM&H
Dept Infection & Tropical Medicine
Lister Unit, Northwick Park Hospital,
Harrow,  Middlesex HA1 3UJ
Phone (direct) ++ 44 208 869 2830
Mobile 07881955264
Secretary ++ 44 208 869 2833
FAX   ++ 44 208 869 2836





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