Contribution to the study of epidemiology, diagnosis and pharmaceutical treatment of canine leishmaniosis

Canine leishmaniasis is a frequently diagnosed disease in Greece. The earliest available records on canine leishmaniasis go back to the beginning of the 20th century concerning dogs living in the area of Athens and later in several other areas in southern Greece. Since then, most of the available epidemiological data mainly concern the two biggest cities Athens and Thessaloniki and the surrounding areas. The objective of the first part of this study was to assess the regional exposure of dogs to Leishmania in Greece by determining its seroprevalence simultaneously in 7 geographical areas in clinically healthy dogs. Blood was collected from dogs living in the following areas: Attiki (1006), Evros (416), Evia (140), Evritania (200), Ioannina (233), Serres (479), Florina (146). A representative sample, regarding the size (more than 2% of the roughly estimated canine population) and the distribution of dogs within the region was randomly selected. The following data were recorded for each dog using a standard questionnaire: the utility, the gender, the age and the length of haircoat. Differences in the distributions of seropositivity between genders, utilities, ages, type of haircoat and geographical regions in Greece were tested for significance (P2%) και η κατανοµή των δειγµάτων µέσα στο νοµό τυχαία. Σε κάθε σκύλο καταγραφόταν η χρησιµότητα, το γένος, η ηλικία και ο τύπος του τριχώµατος. Ο έλεγχος της σηµαντικότητας (P