Resurgence of leptospirosis in dogs in Ontario: recent findings

A marked increase in leptospirosis in dogs was observed in 2000, part of an increasing trend observed in previous years in Ontario. The highest frequency of seropositive cases occurred from September to December 2000, with the peak in November. Large breed dogs were particularly affected. Clinical and clinicopathological data for 31 dogs admitted between 1998 and 2000 to the Ontario Veterinary College Veterinary Teaching Hospital were analyzed. Major clinical presenting features were acute onset of anorexia, depression, fever, and vomiting. Ninety percent of dogs, on admission, showed biochemical evidence of injury to several organs, notably combinations in the order of kidney, muscle, pancreas, and liver. Almost all dogs showed increased serum urea and creatinine levels, and the majority had increased total creatine kinase, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, and leukocytosis with neutrophilia. One-third were thrombocytopenic. Of dogs with liver-related abnormalities, most had evidence of cholestasis, with or without hepatocellular damage. Based on serologic studies, in the year 2000, the major serovar involved was autumnalis, but bratislava, grippotyphosa, and pomona were also implicated. The microscopic agglutination test often gave a confusing pattern of reactivities to the serovars that were tested. The high reactivity to serovar autumnalis may represent an erroneous or “paradoxical” reaction typical of early leptospiral serology. The year 2000 was the warmest in Ontario in each of the 4 fall months (September–December) of the previous decade, as well as being the third wettest in the fall period in the last decade. The increase in canine leptospirosis, therefore, may, in part, reflect climate change. The number of positive cases declined in 2001 by about one-third of those in 2000, but the number of submissions of sera for diagnosis increased markedly over previous years. Further work is required to isolate and to identify definitively serovars involved in resurgent canine leptospirosis and the common sources for dogs.