Abstract
BackgroundCanine babesiosis is an emerging or re-emerging disease caused by Babesia and Theileria protozoans, also called piroplasms, transmitted by Ixodid ticks. In Europe, four etiological agents have been identified to date, namely Babesia canis, B. vogeli, B. gibsoni and Theileria annae. France has a high prevalence of canine babesiosis and two tick species, Dermacentor reticulatus and Rhipicephalus sanguineus, are supposed to transmit B. canis and B. vogeli respectively. In southern France, where dog infections with B. vogeli were recently confirmed, no comprehensive study was performed to date on piroplasm species infecting dogs. Thus, a large scale survey involving veterinary clinics, kennels and tick collection from the environment was conducted from 2010 to 2012 in this area.ResultsFrom 2010 to 2012, 140 dog blood samples and 667 ticks were collected. All blood and a subset of ticks were screened for the presence of piroplasms by PCR amplification of 18S rDNA. B. vogeli, B. canis and T. annae were detected in 13.6, 12.9 and 0.7 % dogs respectively. B. vogeli and B. canis were detected in 10.5 % and in 1.6 % R. sanguineus ticks including 1.3 % co-infections. B. canis was the only species detected in D. reticulatus ticks (9.7 %). B. canis infections were only recorded in the southwest of France whereas B. vogeli was mainly found in the southeast. Finally, a significantly higher prevalence of B. vogeli infection was found in Gard compared to Corsica and Drôme regions, both in dogs (p < 0.002) and R. sanguineus ticks (p < 0.02) although R. sanguineus was the main ticks species removed from dogs in those three areas.ConclusionsThe survey confirmed the circulation of both B. canis and B. vogeli in dogs in southern France with differences in distribution probably linked to the distribution of their respective vectors. It also showed differences in prevalence of B. vogeli infection in areas similar in terms of risk of dogs infestation with R. sanguineus. Further studies focusing on genetic and microbiota of R. sanguineus ticks should be conducted to explore other biological interactions that may explain the differences observed.
Highlights
Canine babesiosis is an emerging or re-emerging disease caused by Babesia and Theileria protozoans, called piroplasms, transmitted by Ixodid ticks
Sampling areas involving veterinary clinics were divided in 2 groups: a first group (GA, DR and CO) where samplings were regular and concerned dogs suspected of canine babesiosis as well as healthy dogs infested by ticks and a second group (HE, HG and HP) where samplings were mainly performed in case of canine babesiosis suspicion
From the 635 ticks collected from dogs, 574 belonged to the R. sanguineus group and 33, 27 and 1 to the species D. reticulatus, Ixodes ricinus and Pholeoixodes hexagonus respectively
Summary
Canine babesiosis is an emerging or re-emerging disease caused by Babesia and Theileria protozoans, called piroplasms, transmitted by Ixodid ticks. France has a high prevalence of canine babesiosis and two tick species, Dermacentor reticulatus and Rhipicephalus sanguineus, are supposed to transmit B. canis and B. vogeli respectively. The disease occurs almost in the whole country, more cases are generally reported in the southwest, including west of the Mediterranean basin, while they are more scarce in Corsica and east of the Mediterranean basin [12,13,14] In the continuity of our previous reports [11, 15] a large scale survey was conducted in the French Mediterranean basin in order to (i) enhance knowledge on prevalence of Babesia vogeli and other piroplasm infections in dogs (ii) try to provide key elements of response to the inhomogeneous distribution of canine babesiosis cases and (ii) appraise the importance of each vector, R. sanguineus and D. reticulatus, in the transmission of the disease in this region
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