Serosurvey of tick-borne pathogens in dogs from urban and rural areas from Parana State, Brazil

Thállitha Samih Wischral Jayme Vieira,Odilon Vidotto,Alexander Welker Biondo,Rafael Felipe Da Costa Vieira,Ramaswamy Chandrashekar,Mary Marcondes,Roberta Dos Santos Toledo,Kátia Tamekuni,Denise Amaral Gomes Do Nascimento

doi:10.1590/s1984-29612013000100019

Abstract

Considering the zoonotic potential of tick-borne disease (TBD) agents and the fact that dogs may act as sentinels for human infection, the aim of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of TBD agents and risk factors for exposure in two different canine populations from Parana State, Southern Brazil. A total of 138 dog serum samples from urban (UA) (n=68) and rural (RA) (n=70) areas were tested with commercial ELISA rapid test for Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia canis and Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFAT) for Babesia vogeli. An overall of 92∕138 (66.7%) dogs, being 62∕68 (91.2%) from UA and 30∕70 (42.9%) from RA, were seropositive for at least one TBD agent. From the total number of dogs, sixty-two were positive for E. canis (44.9%), 19 (13.8%) for A. phagocytophilum, and 64 (46.4%) for B. vogeli. Anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies were not detected. Dogs from UA showed a higher percentage of tick infestation (p = 0.0135) and were highly associated with seropositivity to E. canis (p = 0.000005), A. phagocytophilum (p = 0.0001), and B. vogeli (p = 0.0012). In summary, the findings indicate that dogs from urban areas present higher potential risk exposure to TBD pathogens than those from rural areas.

Highlights

Ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and borreliosis are important tick-borne diseases (TBDs) affecting dogs worldwide (LABARTHE et al, 2003; CARLOS et al, 2007; AMUSATEGUI et al, 2008; BOWMAN et al, 2009; WONG et al, 2011)
Considering the zoonotic potential of tick-borne disease (TBD) agents and the fact that dogs may act as sentinels for human infection, the aim of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of TBD agents and risk factors for exposure in two different canine populations from Parana State, Southern Brazil
Considering the zoonotic potential of these agents and that dogs may act as sentinels for tick-borne infections to humans (AMUSATEGUI et al, 2008), the aims of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of A. phagocytophilum, E. canis, B. burgdorferi and B. vogeli, the identification of tick species found in dogs, and the evaluation of the risk factors for exposure to the organisms, in two different canine populations from Paraná State, Southern Brazil

Summary

Introduction

Ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and borreliosis are important tick-borne diseases (TBDs) affecting dogs worldwide (LABARTHE et al, 2003; CARLOS et al, 2007; AMUSATEGUI et al, 2008; BOWMAN et al, 2009; WONG et al, 2011). While ticks of the genus Amblyomma are commonly found in rural areas, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, the brown dog tick, is the most common species infesting domestic dogs in urban areas in Brazil (LABRUNA et al, 2001) It is involved in the transmission of Ehrlichia canis and Babesia vogeli (DANTASTORRES, 2008). Prevalence of A. platys infection ranges from 18.8% to 48.8% (DAGNONE et al, 2009; SANTOS et al, 2009; RAMOS et al, 2010); the seroprevalence remains to be fully established, since there is no developed serological diagnostic assay for this agent to date Serological assays, such as ELISA, immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) and dot-ELISA, originally developed for the detection of anti-A. phagocytophilum antibodies, have been used as an alternative, due to the cross-reaction between A. phagocytophilum and A. platys antibodies (CHANDRASHEKAR et al, 2010)

Objectives

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Results