Vector-borne pathogens in dogs of different regions of Iran and Pakistan

Roberta Iatta,Filipe Dantas-Torres,Salman Zafari,Farzad Nemati,Domenico Otranto,Alireza Sazmand,Muhammad Mazhar Ayaz,Grazia Greco,Anna Giannico,Zahra Bahiraei,Viet-Linh Nguyen

doi:10.1007/s00436-020-06992-x

Abstract

Canine vector-borne diseases (CVBDs) are highly prevalent in tropical and subtropical countries, mainly due to favorable climate conditions and reduced adoption of preventive measures. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive overview on the prevalence of CVBDs in Iran and Pakistan where limited data are available. Blood samples were collected from 403 dogs from six provinces in Iran and Pakistan to assess the presence of pathogen DNA (i.e., Anaplasma spp., Coxiella burnetii, Ehrlichia spp., Rickettsia spp., Babesia spp., Hepatozoon spp., filarioids, and Leishmania spp.). Sera were also screened by an immunofluorescence antibody test for the detection of antibodies against Leishmania infantum. In total, 46.9% of dogs scored positive to Hepatozoon canis being the most frequently detected (41.4%), followed by Anaplasma platys (6.4%), Ehrlichia canis (3.4%), Rickettsia spp. (2.2%), Babesia vogeli (1.0%), and L. infantum (0.3%). A seroprevalence of 9.6% to anti-L. infantum IgG was also recorded. Data reported herein demonstrate that dogs from Iran and Pakistan are at a high risk of CVBDs, particularly of canine hepatozoonosis. Effective control strategies are advocated for minimizing the risk of infection in animals and humans, also in consideration of the zoonotic potential of some pathogens detected.

Highlights

IntroductionVector-borne diseases (VBDs) are of growing concern to people across the world and their increasing incidence has been attributed to several factors, such as climate change and animal movements (Ogden and Lindsay 2016)
Roberta Iatta and Alireza Sazmand contributed to this work.Guest Editor: Christina StrubeSina University, Hamedan, Iran 3 Zoonotic Diseases Research Center, School of Public Health, ShahidSadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran 4 Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bahawalpur, Pakistan 5 Istituto Zooprofilattico della Puglia e della Basilicata, Putignano (BA), Italy 6 Department of Immunology, Aggeu Magalhães Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Recife, BrazilVector-borne diseases (VBDs) are of growing concern to people across the world and their increasing incidence has been attributed to several factors, such as climate change and animal movements (Ogden and Lindsay 2016)
The high frequency of Canine vector-borne diseases (CVBDs)-causing pathogens reported indicates that dog populations from Iran and Pakistan are exposed to multiple pathogens, including some of zoonotic importance, posing a risk to dogs, and to public health

Summary

Introduction

Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are of growing concern to people across the world and their increasing incidence has been attributed to several factors, such as climate change and animal movements (Ogden and Lindsay 2016). Their distribution depends on a complex combination of biotic and abiotic factors, making their control extremely difficult (Dantas-Torres et al 2012; Otranto et al 2017). Dogs are well recognized as the primary reservoirs of Leishmania infantum, the causative agent of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis and the target of integrated control strategies (Travi et al 2018; Dantas-Torres et al 2019).

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Conclusion