Two canine haemoplasma species have been recognised to date; Mycoplasma haemocanis (Mhc), which has been associated with anaemia in splenectomised or immunocompromised dogs, and “Candidatus Mycoplasma haematoparvum” (CMhp), recently described in an anaemic splenectomised dog undergoing chemotherapy. The study aim was to develop quantitative real-time PCR assays (qPCRs) incorporating an endogenous internal control to detect Mhc and CMhp and to apply these assays to DNA samples extracted from canine blood collected in Northern Tanzania (n = 100) and from dogs presented to a Trinidadian veterinary hospital (n = 185).QPCRs specific for Mhc and CMhp were designed using 16S rRNA gene sequence data, and each was duplexed with an assay specific for canine glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). The assays detected ≤10 copies of a sequence-specific haemoplasma plasmid per reaction and neither assay showed cross-reactivity with 106 copies of the sequence-specific plasmid from the non-target canine haemoplasma species.Nineteen of the 100 Tanzanian samples (19%) were positive for Mhc alone and one (1%) was dually infected. One Trinidadian sample was negative for canine GAPDH DNA and was excluded from the study. Of the 184 remaining Trinidadian samples, nine (4.9%) were positive for Mhc alone, five (2.7%) for CMhp alone, and two (1.1%) dually infected.This is the first report of canine haemoplasma qPCR assays that use an internal control to confirm the presence of amplifiable sample DNA, and their application to prevalence studies. Mhc was the most commonly detected canine haemoplasma species.

11 African and two German IBDV strains isolated in the mid '80s from field outbreaks in vaccinated and unvaccinated chicken flocks displayed features of very virulent (vv) IBDV strains. The sequence data of the VP2 variable region and phylogenetic analysis confirm that these strains can be grouped within vv IBDV strains which appeared at the same time on the three continents Africa, Asia, and Europe. Strain Cu-1wt, responsible for severe IBD outbreaks in Germany 13 years earlier, showed some relatedness to these strains, but also significant differences at the genomic level, even though this strain has also features of the vv IBDV strains.

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Data on the rabies situation in Kaduna State, in northern Nigeria, were obtained by questionnaire and interview with all Divisional Veterinary Officers, physicians, hospital superintendents, village and hamlet heads or chiefs in various local government areas. All persons reporting animal bites to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, were also interviewed. Direct immunofluorescence staining, using both the regular conjugated anti-rabies globulin and a conjugated monoclonal antibody battery to lyssaviruses, was performed on brain samples from suspect animals sent to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. There were more dogs, and consequently more rabies outbreaks, in the southern part of the state than in the north; this did not appear to be associated with the religious beliefs of the local population. There seems to be a cyclic pattern of distribution of the outbreaks. Most dogs involved in bites had identifiable owners (74.5%), were older than one year (70.0%), and were not vaccinated (75.5%). Male children (under 10 years) were the high risk group for dog bites. Rabies cases seemed to cluster around April and September, corresponding to breeding seasons for dogs in Zaria. All the isolates checked by conjugated monoclonal antibodies for lyssaviruses were found to be rabies. Enforcing leash laws, vaccination of dogs against rabies especially before the breeding seasons, and control of stray and free-roaming dogs would reduce the incidence of rabies in Kaduna State.

A clinical and epidemiologic picture of canine hepatozoonosis is presented. Clinically the disease is characterized by a chronic debilitating course, persistent or recurrent fever unresponsive to antibiotics and the common babesiocidal agents, progressive anaemia, eosinophilia and polychromasia, and H. canis parasitaemia. H. canis was the most prevalent haematozoan parasite, affecting 22 per cent of the dogs examined; B. canis affected 11 per cent, and E. canis 5 per cent. H. canis affected all ages of dogs while B. canis and E. canis affected predominantly young dogs.