Prognosis and monitoring of leishmaniasis in dogs: A working group report

Abstract

This review presents the consensus opinion of the Canine Leishmaniasis Working Group on the prognosis and monitoring of leishmaniasis in dogs. While the prognosis for both exposed and infected dogs is considered to be favourable, this changes if infection progresses to overt disease. For clinically affected animals undergoing treatment, the prognosis is dictated by the severity of the signs (and in particular the severity of renal dysfunction) when therapy is initiated; assessing the degree of proteinuria is useful in this context. Approximately 75% of dogs without evidence of renal involvement live for >4years if adequately treated. Monitoring the response to treatment includes ongoing clinical and clinicopathological assessment, as well as quantifying serological responses and the parasite load in the patient.