Abstract
A 4-year-old male Labrador Retriever presented with chronic alopecia and dry desquamation without pruritus on the periocular region, the bridge of the nose, the pinnae, the neck, the waist and the limbs. The symptoms did not respond to treatment with antibiotics. The patient had previously lived in Spain until aged one and a half, at which point it was imported to Japan. Blood examination and serum chemistry analyses showed hyperglobulinemia and PCR assay using DNA from skin lesions and popliteal lymph node revealed positive infection by Leishmania infantum with amplification of kinetoplast DNA from L. infantum. In addition, serum antibodies proved positive by rapid immunoassay. Based on these findings, the first canine case of L. infantum infection in Japan was diagnosed.
