Exposure to &lt;em&gt;Brucella canis&lt;/em&gt; in Owned and Stray Dogs in Grenada, West Indies

Alfred Chikweto,Jeremy Gozlan,Sachin Kumthekar,Keshaw P Tiwari,Tara Paterson,Quetin Langeois,Marta Lanza,Ravindra, N Sharma

doi:10.19026/ijava.5.5577

Abstract

The aim of this cross sectional study was to estimate the prevalence of exposure to <em>Brucella canis</em> in owned and stray dogs in Grenada. Documentation of exposure to this important bacterial pathogen in dogs will facilitate instituting appropriate prevention and control measures and education of the public about potential zoonotic implications. Serum samples were collected from 255 stray and 204 owned dogs in Grenada from 2009 to 2011. Sera were initially screened with the rapid slide agglutination test and the positive samples further tested with 2-mercaptoethanol rapid slide agglutination test. Exposure to <em>B. canis</em> was found in 10 stray dogs but none in owned dogs.

Highlights

Infections with Brucella spp have been reported worldwide in different species of domestic animals and in humans Corbel (2006)
Out 459 samples, 14 stray dogs and 5 owned dogs tested positive for the Rapid Slide Agglutination Test (RSAT)
Based on the criterion mentioned above, we found a prevalence of 2.2% for B. canis

Summary

Introduction

Infections with Brucella spp have been reported worldwide in different species of domestic animals and in humans Corbel (2006). The most clinically important Brucella species, Brucella abortus, Brucella melitensis, Brucella canis and Brucella suis appear to be host specific, infections of other animal species may occur sporadically. Dogs can acquire infection with B. abortus, B.melitensis or B. suis from ingesting aborted ruminant or swine fetuses and placental material. They can excrete these bacteria which may present a serious hazard to humans and livestock (Acha and Szyfres, 2003). Infection with B. canis is a significant cause of reproductive failure in dogs worldwide (Wanke, 2004). The infection localizes in the reproductive system where it characteristically causes placentitis with subsequent abortion and still births in pregnant bitches (Lopes et al, 2010). Many dogs remain asymptomatic and appear to be healthy, despite being infected (Behzadi and Mogheiseh, 2011)

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