Thyroid pathology in canine parvoviral infection

Abstract

The hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis is suppressed by pro-inflammatory mediators in systemic disease, which affects the thyroid hormone level. Canine parvovirus is one of the important infectious diseases which causes profound morbidity as well as mortality in dogs. It is found that canine parvovirus infection can result in non-thyroidal sickness syndrome. The relation between thyroid pathology and canine parvovirus infection will pave the way for therapeutic and preventive measures for this infectious disease. This study was conducted on 61 dog carcasses brought to the Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode during one year period. Among 61 cases, nine were found to be positive for canine parvovirus which constitutes an incidence of 14.75 per cent. Analysis of gross and histopathological lesions in canine parvovirus positive cases was the goal of this investigation. The gross lesions observed were paleness and nodular growth and histopathological lesions encountered were lymphocytic thyroiditis, colloidal goiter, c cell hyperplasia, severe fibrotic changes and neoplastic lesions. Further research is required to understand the pathophysiology of the euthyroid sick syndrome in canine parvoviral infection.