engleski

First molecular characterization of canine hepatozoonosis in Croatia using a screening PCR and sequencing methodologies

Apicomplexan blood parasites of the genus Hepatozoon have been described from a wide range of mammals and other vertebrates. Sexual stage with sporogony takes place in different blood-sucking arthropods, and asexual phase in endothelial cells of various organs or parenchymal cells of the liver. Up to now two Hepatozoon species that infect canids, including domestic dogs, have been described: H. canis, a relatively widespread protozoan, and H. americanum, which seems to be present only in North America. H. canis has been reported in Asian, African and South American dogs, but although widespread in European wild canids and rodents, it was found only in few dogs in Spain and Greece. Here we investigated a population of 924 apparently asymptomatic dogs from different Croatian regions. DNA was isolated from canine blood and the screening PCR on the 666 bp fragment of 18S rRNA revealed 108 (11, 8%) positive dogs. Positive samples were confirmed by partial sequencing of 18S rRNA gene. The consensus sequences, derived from various sequence data sets, were blasted against sequences of 18S SSU rRNA of Hepatozoon sp. available at GenBank. The alignments have revealed 106 H. canis and 2 H. sp. sequences. Among H. canis isolates we found small heterogeneity, while H. sp. isolates were identical to the Spanish isolate AY600625 from Clethrionomys glareolus. Obtained results indicate higher prevalence and significance of hepatozoonosis in Croatia than previously believed.

Hepatozoon; asymptomatic; dogs; screening PCR

nije evidentirano