Molecular Survey of Vector-Borne Pathogens of Dogs and Cats in Two Regions of Saudi Arabia.

Abdullah D Alanazi,Sobhy Abdel-Shafy,Abdulaziz S Alouffi,Mohammad Y Alshahrani,Alireza Sazmand,Nichola Eliza Davies Calvani,Hend H A M Abdullah,Mohamed S Alyousif,Maryam Ansari-Lari,Domenico Otranto

doi:10.3390/pathogens10010025

Abstract

Dogs and cats play an important role as reservoirs of vector-borne pathogens, yet reports of canine and feline vector-borne diseases in Saudi Arabia are scarce. Blood samples were collected from 188 free-roaming dogs and cats in Asir (70 dogs and 44 cats) and Riyadh (74 dogs), Saudi Arabia. The presence of Anaplasma spp., Bartonella spp., hemotropic Mycoplasma spp., Babesia spp., and Hepatozoon spp. was detected using a multiplex tandem real-time PCR. PCR-positive samples were further examined with specific conventional and real-time PCR followed by sequencing. Dogs from Riyadh tested negative for all pathogens, while 46 out of 70 dogs (65.7%) and 17 out of 44 cats (38.6%) from Asir were positive for at least one pathogen. Positive dogs were infected with Anaplasma platys (57.1%), Babesia vogeli (30%), Mycoplasma haemocanis (15.7%), and Bartonella henselae (1.4%), and cats were infected with Mycoplasma haemofelis (13.6%), Candidatus Mycoplasma haemominutum (13.6%), B. henselae (9.2%), and A. platys (2.27%), all of which are reported for the first time in Saudi Arabia. Co-infection with A. platys and B. vogeli was detected in 17 dogs (24.28%), while coinfections were not detected in cats. These results suggest that effective control and public awareness strategies for minimizing infection in animals are necessary.

Highlights

Vector-borne pathogens (VBPs) transmitted by ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes, are of global importance especially in the case of zoonotic infections which pose a direct threat to human health and animal welfare [1,2,3]
Specific PCRs showed that dogs (Table 1) were mainly infected with A. platys (57.1%), followed by B. vogeli (30.0%), M
Co-infection with A. platys and B. vogeli was detected in 17 dogs (24.3%)

Summary

Introduction

Vector-borne pathogens (VBPs) transmitted by ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes, are of global importance especially in the case of zoonotic infections which pose a direct threat to human health and animal welfare [1,2,3]. Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) as a result of infection with viral, bacterial, and protozoal VBPs are often widespread in tropical and subtropical regions [4], including in the Middle East, due to the optimal climatic conditions for the perpetuation of arthropods involved in their transmission [5]. In this context, vectorborne infections of dogs and cats—that have a close relationship with humans in both urban and rural areas—pose potential public health concerns [6]. Unlike elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh is a semi-arid area with low annual rainfall and relative humidity, making it unsuitable for tick species that prefer more temperate or tropical climates, such as Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806)

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