Leishmania Infection of Canine Skin Fibroblasts In Vivo

Abstract

In this paper we describe two cases of naturally occurring leishmaniasis in dogs in which Leishmania sp. amastigotes are found within the cytoplasm of fibroblasts. The infected cells were identified histologically, immunohistochemically, and ultrastructurally as fibroblasts. This is the first report of leishmaniasis in any species in which amastigotes were identified in vivo within fibroblasts.