We uphold high standards of foxhound breeding, care, kennel management, and animal husbandry. The Foxhound Kennel Notebook is a valuable resource for hunt staff about hound welfare.
In 1980, the first case of Leishmaniasis was reported in an Oklahoma foxhound kennel. Since then, 33 states and 2 Canadian provinces have reported cases. We recognized the risk to foxhounds and all dogs.
For the past decade, the MFHA Foundation has funded research on reducing tick-borne illness and Leishmaniasis at the University of Iowa and the Petersen Lab. Complete results of the study were shared in September 2021.
An invaluable resource, the MFHA Guide to Leishmaniasis should be in every kennel. This highly informative piece addresses these concerns:
The MFHA-funded Simparica tick-borne disease study has been published in The American Society of Microbiology’s ASM Journal, Infection and Immunity. This research was supported by the MFHA Foundation and the University of Iowa Interdisciplinary Immunology Postdoctoral Training Grant NIH/NIAID T32AI007260.
This study looked at hounds infected with Leishmania infantum, a parasite that causes a serious disease called leishmaniasis in both dogs and humans. The researchers focused on how other infections from ticks (called tick-borne coinfections, or TBCs) affect the progression of leishmaniasis in hounds.
They followed a group of hounds in an area where leishmaniasis is common from 2019 to 2022. All dogs started out with mild or no symptoms and had no tick-related infections at first. Half of the study hounds were given Sarolaner (Simparica) and half received a placebo. Over time, some dogs got tick-borne infections.
The researchers found that untreated hounds who later developed these tick infections got sicker from leishmaniasis. These dogs had more parasites in their blood, stronger antibody responses (a sign of worsening infection), and their immune systems became more exhausted and less able to fight the parasite effectively. They were also twice as likely to develop moderate to severe illness compared to dogs that didn’t get the tick infections.
In short, tick-borne infections made leishmaniasis worse. The study suggests that to protect hounds—and in turn, humans—from leishmaniasis, it’s important to also control ticks and educate the public about the connection between tick infections and worsening leishmaniasis.