Prevalence and molecular characterization of Ehrlichia canis Hepatozoon canis and Babesia spp in dogs from Andhra Pradesh India

Abstract

In India, the tropical climate, high population of dogs, and vectors especially, ticks, favour the occurrence of several canine tick-borne pathogens. Early detection and accurate identification of pathogen species, either in single or in co-infection, are crucial for the therapeutic and preventive purpose of these diseases. The present study was carried out to determine the prevalence and molecular characterization of common tick-borne pathogens, Ehrlichia canis, Hepatozoon canis, and Babesia spp. in dogs in Andhra Pradesh by microscopy and multiplex PCR utilizing a total of 442 dogs blood samples. Blood smear examination could detect infection with either of these tick-borne pathogens in 21.27 per cent of dogs, while multiplex PCR assay revealed 43.44 per cent of sampled dogs to be positive indicating the higher sensitivity of the multiplex PCR to detect these pathogens during natural infections. The parasite specific multiplex PCR amplified 16S rRNA gene of Babesia spp. (619 bp), H. canis (737 bp) and VirB9 gene of E. canis (380 bp), without any non-specific amplification. DNA sequences of the multiplex PCR amplicons were subjected to BLASTn analysis and confirmed Babesia spp., E. canis and H. canis. Infection with single haemoparasite species (30.77%) namely for Babesia spp. (16.51%), E. canis (11.54%) and H. canis (2.71%) was frequent (Plt0.01) in infected dogs than coinfection (12.67%) with more than one haemoparasite. In co-infections, eight samples (1.81%) were found positive for all the three haemoparasites, 41 (9.28%) were found positive for Babesia spp. and E. canis, three (0.68 %) were found positive for Babesia spp. and H. canis and four (0.90 %) were found positive for E. canis and H. canis. newline