Lepto
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Lepto
Submitted by bingyoung on April 20, 2010 - 11:27pmMy vet called today and told me that Bringman's lepto titers came back positive but that he wanted to repeat them in 2 wks since it was about 7 wks ago he got vaccinated. I got tested today my mother has to get tested and anyone else that has come in contact with his urine which here of late there has been a lot of-- this is how this whole thing started. Reading on the internet it seems like biochemical warfare protective gloves eyewear and all my dogs have to be treated all 6 of them. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this in any of your dogs of course I am devastated...any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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Symptoms
this all started with incontinence however I could have missed the smaller signs lethargy he isnt an active bully 2 begin with never appeared to have chills or fever never lost appetite does and always has drank a lot but the vaccination was 7 wks ago and the vet did say that he was going 2 repeat it all my dogs have been around him and there is little to no way to keep them from one another. The dribble of the urine while asleep and at rest but not up and walking is what started this whole thing I've cried for a week this is my boy bully that sleeps in a cherry sleigh crib as well as his sister I never take them around any other dogs except mine and they are never kenneled hell I haven't had a vacation in 5 yrs ..I won't leave them they are my babies. I'm going to my vet now with my weimie as he has started with a lump on his leg one thing after another I will keep you posted please keep Bringman in your thoughts...thanks for your response
Bringman will definitely be in my thoughts.
Hang in there. And a word about vaccinations...don't avoid them all. Some may not really be applicable to dogs that stay at home, but do titers when you're not sure on the basic ones; and most vaccs last three years now.
calm down, is he having symptoms if so what, also he was just va
has the virus in his system, that is what vaccines do, they give you a bit of the virus to build antibodies.
TESTING
Blood testing to detect antibodies against Leptospira interrogans (microscopic agglutination testing) can be performed. While a value of 1:800 or higher is supportive of a positive diagnosis, confirmation is not made until a second antibody level (called a titer) is run between 2 & 4 weeks and shows a four fold increase. Vaccination may interfere with testing since obviously the entire point of vaccination is to generate antibodies. If the dog has been vaccinated in the last 3 months, testing will be difficult to interpret; however, a single titer of 1:800 or higher against a serovar for which there is no vaccine is considered a positive result. The PCR test, which amplifies small amounts of DNA, would be an excellent test if vaccination has been recent but PCR testing is not available in most reference laboratories.
Urine may be submitted for what is called Darkfield Microscopy. In this test, a dark background may offset the paler leptospire organisms rendering them visible. This sounds like a good way to make the diagnosis but the problems are:
1. The urine sample must be fresh and most animal hospitals do not have the capability to do dark field microscopy.
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/canineleptospirosis.html
2. Leptospires are only shed in urine intermittently.
The kidney may be biopsied and special tissue stains may be used to detect leptospire organisms. Obviously this is an invasive procedure.
Vicky,
Bosco, Bella, Breve' & Holly
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