Leishmaniosis
Leishmaniosis is an infectious disease transmitted by insects. The vectors of Leishmania are sand flies (Phlebotominae). Leishmania is taken up during the blood-sucking process.
The promastigote stages, which are infectious 6 – 12 days after the blood-sucking
process, multiply in the sand fly. In Europe, the pathogen is Leishmania infantum. South
of the Bosporus and especially in North Africa, Leishmania tropica occurs additionally.
Other species of Leishmania have been described worldwide. The main infection areas in Europe are Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. Foxes and possibly also small rodents are considered to be pathogen reservoirs. In Germany, naturally occurring sand flies (mainly Phlebotomus mascittii; no transmission of Leishmania is known so far) have been found along the Rhine rift in Baden-Wurttemberg, in Rhineland-Palatinate in the Kaiserslautern region, and in Saarbrucken in Saarland.
Infected animals can be asymptomatic for up to 7 years. The beginning of the disease
is mostly characterised by lymphadenopathy, anaemia; in the cutaneous form of
leishmaniosis, skin changes at the edges of the ears, the rhinarium and periorbital lesions are visible.
In chronic infections, the animals show reduced resilience, weight loss, lymphadenopathy, scaly, non-itchy skin change and eye changes.
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