engleski

SEROPREVALENCE OF VECTOR - BORNE PATHOGENS IN DOGS FROM CROATIA

Vector-borne pathogens are widely distributed and represent emerging group of diseases in dogs. For veterinary practitioners they represent a substantial diagnostic challenge because clinical signs might be often concealed and overlapping. Although prevalence of antibodies against vector-borne pathogens have already been reported in apparently healthy dogs from Croatia, here we report results of survey on blood samples with SNAP®4Dx®Plus collected from three groups of dogs: (i) apparently healthy (52%, 753/1, 448), (ii) suspected dogs with clinical signs of the disease (44%, 632/1, 448), (iii) deceased dogs with the history of anemia and thrombocytopenia (4%, 63/1448). In total 1, 448 dogs were tested for presence of Dirofilaria immitis antigen, antibodies to Anaplasma phagocytophilum/Anaplasma platys, Borrelia burgdoferi and Ehrlichia canis. Highest prevalence was detected in group of apparently healthy dogs with 6% (47/753) serologically-positive. Seroprevalence was: A. phagocytophilum/A. platys 5% (41/753), B. burgdoferi 0.2% (2/753), E. canis 0.6% (5/753) and D. immitis 0.3% (3/753). Within the group of „suspected dogs“ slightly lower prevalence of 5% (30/632) was noted with similar distribution on pathogens: A. phagocytophilum/A. platys in 3% (21/632), B. burgdoferi 0.4% (3/632), E. canis 0.6% (4/632) and D. immitis in 0.6% (6/632). Deceased dogs showed identical seropositivity (6%, 4/63) with apparently healthy group: A. phagocytophilum/A. platys (3%, 2/63), B. burgdoferi (2%, 1/63) and D. immitis (3%, 2/63). Co-infections were found in 0.5% (4/753) of apparently healthy dogs, 0.3% (2/632) within group of „suspected dogs“ while in deceased dogs only one case was registered (2%, 1/63). In all tested groups A. phagocytophilum/A. platys was the most prevalent pathogen, followed by E.canis in apparently healthy and „suspected dogs“, while the lowest prevalence was for D. immitis and B. burgdoferi. These findings raise question on role of selected vector borne diseases in development of anemia and thrombocytopenia since prevalence among groups was almost identical.

seroprevalence ; vector-borne pathogens ; dog ; Anaplasma phagocytophilum ; Anaplasma platys ; Dirofilaria immitis ; Borrelia burgdoferi ; Ehrlichia canis

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