Distribution and relationships between clinical and biopathological parameters in canine leishmaniasis q I. Amusategui 1 , A. Sainz 1 , F. Rodrı´guez 1 & M.A. Tesouro 2 1 Dpto. Patologı´a Animal II, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; 2 Dpto.Patologı´aAnimal-Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad de Leo ´n, Spain Accepted in revised form 22 July 2002 Abstract. Although the lesions, clinical signs and biochemical alterations observed in the course of canine leishmaniasis have been amply described a thorough definition and characterisation of the affected populations is important in order to detect relationships between parameters which may be in- volved in the development of this disease and to correctly assess further studies. This study included 61 dogs diagnosed with naturally acquired canine leishmaniasis by means of indirect immunofluores- cence assay (IFA). At diagnosis, dogs were classified according to the following qualitative and quantita- tive variables: gender, breed, age, clinical picture, antibody titre, serum protein electrophoretogram, haemogram (CBC), urea, creatinine and ALT. Our population included dogs of 24 breeds, both sexes and different ages indicating no sex, age or breed predilection. In relation to the clinical picture, eight dogs were asymptomatic, 16 displayed mainly cuta- neous signs, 18 presented primarily visceral signs and 19 displayed both cutaneous and visceral signs. Our results indicate that the clinical picture is significantly related to electrophoretogram and to RBC, PCV and haemoglobin. Dogs with mainly cutaneous signs showed the highest eosinophil mean values and those with mainly visceral signs showed the highest a- globulin mean values. This study confirms that the antibody titre is highly correlated with electropho- retogram and with RBC, PCV and haemoglobin. Lymphocytes were not associated or correlated with any other variable considered. PMNC, monocytes and eosinophils, as well as WBC, showed a significant correlation with b-globulins, which is difficult to in- terpret. Key words: Canine leishmaniasis, Clinical picture, Haematological and clinical biochemistry findings, Rela- tionships Introduction Canine leishmaniasis, caused by Leishmania infantum, is widely spread throughout the Mediterranean basin [1]. Although the lesions, clinical signs and bio- chemical alterations observed in the course of this disease have been amply described in the literature, in most cases the authors report only the frequency of the different signs and alterations [2–9]. Nevertheless, a thorough definition and characterisation of the af- fected populations is important, not only in order to detect relationships between parameters which may be involved in the development of canine leishmani- asis, but also to correctly assess further studies (e.g. of therapeutic effectiveness) of these populations. The aim of this study was to describe a population of 61 dogs with canine leishmaniasis and determine possi- ble associations and correlations between different variables related to this disease. Materials and methods Canine population This study included 61 dogs diagnosed with naturally acquired canine leishmaniasis at the Madrid Veteri- nary Faculty Hospital by means of indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) (cut-off P 1=100), as described by Tesouro Diez [10]. Dogs were evalua- ted by means of physical examination and blood test. No other concurrent disease was detected at the moment of diagnosis. Dogs were classified according to the following qualitative and quantitative vari- ables: Qualitative variables: – gender – breed – age: young (O2 years old); adult (>2 years old <8 years old); old (>8 years old) – clinical picture: asymptomatic; mainly cutaneous signs; mainly visceral signs; cutaneous and visceral signs q This work is part of a Doctoral Thesis awarded the 1st National Prize in Animal Health (1999) by SYVA Labo- ratories, Spain. European Journal of Epidemiology 18: 147–156, 2003. Ó 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.