A Preliminary Study for Determination of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte, Monocyte to Lymphocyte and Platelet to Lymphocyte Ratios in Dogs with Canine Distemper Virus Infection

It is aimed to compare the pretreatment Neutrophil/Lymphocyte (NEU/LYM), Monocyte/Lymphocyte (MONO/LYM), and Platelet/Lymphocyte (PLT/LYM) ratios with whole blood count (WBC) of dogs naturally infected Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) with healthy individuals within this preliminary study. For this purpose, retrospectively, 22 owned, 3-12 (6.2) months old dogs diagnosed with CDV infection found to be positive with rapid test kits based up on the records of Animal Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, constituted the study group. On the other hand, eight owned, 2-10 (8.2) months old, and healthy dogs enrolled in the control group. In the comparison of pre-treatment NEU/LYM, MONO/LYM, PLT/LYM, and WBC parameters between the groups, we found only a statistical difference (P 0.05) between median LYM, EOS, NEU%, LYM%, EOS%, BAS%, MCH, MCHC, RDWCV, PLT with NEU/LYM, MONO/LYM, PLT/LYM ratios. The median NEU/LYM, MONO/LYM, and PLT/LYM levels in the CDV positive group were 31.9, 2.33, and 391.2, respectively, while the same values of the control group were determined as 6.39, 0.37 and 187.7, respectively. The optimized cut-off points of NEU/LYM, MONO/LYM, and PLT/LYM values in estimating CDV patients were also determined as NEU/LYM =7.6, MONO/LYM=0.61 and PLT/LYM=0.852, respectively. In conclusion, this preliminary study suggests that NEU/LYM, MONO/LYM, and PLT/LYM values may be inexpensive, objective, and non-invasive new marker candidates for clinicians to support the diagnosis of CDV infected dogs in suspicious circumstances.