Bleeding with no reason/sangrando sin motivo

A thin bullterrier presented one morning bleeding profusely. His owner was on the brink of a nervous breakdown, so worried the dog would die. Any attempt to control the bleeding from the nose (epistaxis) failed. After questioning the owner in order to find out a possible cause (a fight, running over, some rodenticide, poisoning...) I though of the dreadful illness we have in South Spain: leishmania. Indeed the reason for that bleeding, as well as the dog's poor condition, was the leishmania parasite.

Este delgado bullterrier llegó una mañana sangrando bastante. Su dueña estaba al borde de un ataque de nervios, muy preocupada de que el perro se muriera. En toda la mañana no pudimos controlar la hemorrágia nasal. Tras las típicas preguntas para averiguar la causa (pelea, atropello, raticida, veneno...) Pensé en la terrible endemia del sur de España: leishmania. De
hecho, la razón de la hemorrágia y del mal aspecto del perro flaco, era la leishmania.

In this case my main concern was not dealing with the disease but the owner's convintion that leishmania was as lethal as AIDS. For decades the only treatment allowed to vets against leishmania was euthanasia. Barely a month ago Spanish law giving owners the option of either treating their pets or they being slaughtered, which was the only solution those laws offered up until then.

En este caso la preocupación principal no era el tratamiento sino el convncimiento del dueño de que la leishmania era tan letal como el SIDA. Durante décadas los veterinarios sólo hemos contraatacado la leishmania sacrificando a las mascotas. Hacía escasamente un mes que la Ley había cambiado permitiendo a los dueños tratar a sus animales como opción al obligatorio sacrificio, la única opción legal hasta el momento.

Only after we dediced to get him a meglumine injection we could control the bleeding. It took three more boosters in four days to stop it properly while we waited for a new treatment against leishmania it was decided to give him. In few weeks he put on the weight he had lost the last 6 months, and he does not need any other tablets.

Sólo después de decidir inyectar meglumina al perro pudimos controlar el sangrado. Necesitó otras tres inyecciones en cuatro días para frenarla adecuadamente mientras esperábamos el nuevo tratamiento de leishmania que le íbamos a dar. En pocas semanas recuperó el peso que había perdido en los últimos 6 meses, y ya no necesita otro tratamiento adicional.