Commitment of renal and cardiovascular systems in canine visceral Leishmaniasis. Conceptual review

Abstract

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a registered zoonoses in various regions from the world, according to estimates by the World Health Organization, the prevalence of different clinical forms of leishmaniasis surpasses 12 million cases. In Colombia the population at risk to 2009 was 10 million, with 62 reported cases of VL (0.5%). The clinical frame in dogs is very similar to human, making the dog an excellent experimental model for the study of the disease. The literature reports the affinity of the agent for the kidneys of mammals affected by VL. Some works describe renal lesions in human and dogs beings undertaken by the disease, meanwhile, there are gaps in the pathophysiology of VL in this system, and the consequences of systemic hypertension on myocardial function, so the literature is extremely scarce to description of disorders from the cardiovascular system. Similarly, there are few studies in Veterinary Medicine on myocardial function of dogs with VL except isolated reports of myocarditis or pericarditis in infected dogs, and a study correlating these systems in canine VL.