4. Skin diseases - Pruritic Flashcards
What is pruritus?
A sensation of itching that can result in biting, licking, scratching or rubbing of the skin
What triggers pruritus?
Mainly parasites, allergies and infection
But can occir with almost any cutaneous disease
How is intensity of pruritus determined?
By number of scratches / min.
E.g, 5x in a 10min = intense pruritus
Pruritus is thought to be the stimulation of …..?
Stimulation of cutaneous neuroreceptors by a range of mediators produced by inflammatory cells and keratinocytes in the skin
What are non-infectious causes of pruritus?
- Atopy
- Food allergy
- Hypersensitivity to flea bites
- Hot spots
- Contact dermatitis
- Superficial pyoderma
What are infectious causes of pruritus?
- Sarcoptes
- Malassezia (fungi)
- Dermatophytosis (fungi)
- Otodectes
- Demodicosis (not intense pruritus)
- Notoedres – cat
How can a non-pruritic disease become pruritic after all?
When an animal develops for example a secondary bacterial infection as a consequence to it’s underlying infection
