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Abstract
BackgroundIn rural parts of Africa, dogs live in close association with humans and livestock, roam freely, and usually do not receive prophylactic measures. Thus, they are a source of infectious disease for humans and for wildlife such as protected carnivores. In 2011, an epidemiological study was carried out around three conservation areas in Uganda to detect the presence and determine the prevalence of vector-borne pathogens in rural dogs and associated ticks to evaluate the risk that these pathogens pose to humans and wildlife.MethodsSerum samples (n = 105), blood smears (n = 43) and blood preserved on FTA cards (n = 38) and ticks (58 monospecific pools of Haemaphysalis leachi and Rhipicephalus praetextatus including 312 ticks from 52 dogs) were collected from dogs. Dog sera were tested by indirect immunofluorescence to detect the presence of antibodies against Rickettsia conorii and Ehrlichia canis. Antibodies against R. conorii were also examined by indirect enzyme immunoassay. Real time PCR for the detection of Rickettsia spp., Anaplasmataceae, Bartonella spp. and Babesia spp. was performed in DNA extracted from FTA cards and ticks.Results99 % of the dogs were seropositive to Rickettsia spp. and 29.5 % to Ehrlichia spp. Molecular analyses revealed that 7.8 % of the blood samples were infected with Babesia rossi, and all were negative for Rickettsia spp. and Ehrlichia spp. Ticks were infected with Rickettsia sp. (18.9 %), including R. conorii and R. massiliae; Ehrlichia sp. (18.9 %), including E. chaffeensis and Anaplasma platys; and B. rossi (1.7 %). Bartonella spp. was not detected in any of the blood or tick samples.ConclusionsThis study confirms the presence of previously undetected vector-borne pathogens of humans and animals in East Africa. We recommend that dog owners in rural Uganda be advised to protect their animals against ectoparasites to prevent the transmission of pathogens to humans and wildlife.
Highlights
In rural parts of Africa, dogs live in close association with humans and livestock, roam freely, and usually do not receive prophylactic measures
All dogs but one were seropositive to Rickettsia spp. anti- Tick and flea infestation bodies (99.1 %; 95 % Confidence Intervals = 94.8 %-99.9 %) Overall, 40.2 % of the examined and 29.5 % (95 % C.I. = 21 %-39.2 %) were seropositive to dogs were parasitized by ticks
No statistically ticks observed in the field due to practical limitations, so significant differences in Rickettsia spp. seroprevalence no data on tick abundance can be provided
Summary
In rural parts of Africa, dogs live in close association with humans and livestock, roam freely, and usually do not receive prophylactic measures. They are a source of infectious disease for humans and for wildlife such as protected carnivores. Tick-transmitted infections are an emerging problem in dogs and have recently become a major focus of interest in areas of the world in which they have traditionally been considered nonendemic This relates to both their significance to canine health, and to the possible reservoir status of the dog of potentially zoonotic disease [6]. Untreated animals like the rural dogs studied here can serve as sentinels for tick infestation in the environment and for pathogen diversity in the tick population, and pathogen incidence in the dog population can reflect pathogen infection pressure [7]
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