Annotated Data for Detection of Leishmania spp. Amastigotes in Canine Node Smear Images

This dataset includes 201 annotated microscopic images. The lymph node smears were obtained from the Diagnostic Laboratory, Clinic of Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly. The preparation of the lymph node smears followed a specific protocol. A non-aspiration fine-needle biopsy technique was performed using a 21-gauge needle attached to a 10-mL syringe, targeting either the prescapular or popliteal lymph nodes of dogs. After collection, the material was placed on 76 x 26 mm glass slides for microscopy, and the overlapping content was smeared using the squash method. The lymph node smears were air-dried, fixed in methyl alcohol, and stained with Giemsa. We conducted light microscopy examination of the lymph node smears using an optical microscope (OLYMPUS model BX4, Olympus, Germany) with a 1000× magnification lens. Microscopic examination included 10 to 1,000 oil immersion fields (OIFs, ×1000), depending on the detection and density of amastigotes. A lymph node smear was considered positive when Leishmania amastigotes were identified as round to oval organisms, measuring 2–5 μμm in diameter, with an eccentric nucleus, a kinetoplast exhibiting more intense basophilic staining compared to the nucleus, and a visible cellular membrane. Smears that tested positive were stored for later image acquisition using an OLYMPUS model BX4 microscope (Olympus, Germany) coupled with a ZEISS Axiocam ERc 5s 5-megapixel all-in-one microscope camera (ZEISS, Germany) and a BioBlue.Lab microscope (Euromex, Holland) coupled with a CMEX 5 digital camera (Euromex, Holland).