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Effects of water flooding on the oviposition capacity of engorged adult females and hatchability of eggs of Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Haemaphysalis leachi leachi under laboratory conditions were investigated. The durations of time of water flooding were 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours. Engorged females of R. sanguineus and H. leachi leachi did not oviposit after being flooded for more than 48 and 6 hours, respectively. The preoviposition periods of both species were longer than those of their controls. The number of eggs laid were significantly lower (P < .05) and higher (P < .05) than their controls, respectively, for R. sanguineus and H. leachi leachi flooded for 1–4 hours. The hatchability of eggs of both species decreased as flooding time increased. The percentage of hatchability was negatively correlated with flooding time and was highly significant (r = −0.97; P < .10). It is concluded that R. sanguineus tolerated simulated water flooding more than H. leachi leachi.

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The aim of this study was to compare a clinic-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (immunocomb-Eliza, Biogal, Israel) and a field-based dot-blot enzyme-linked immunoassay (DBELIA) with the indirect immunofluoresence antibody test (IFAT) used for the field diagnostics of canine monocytic ehrlichiosis (CME). The total test samples was 60; out of them 52 serum samples came from naturally exposed police German shepherd dogs and 8 from adult mongrels infected with viable Ehrlichia canis propagated in a dog macrophage laboratory cell line (DH82). The DBELIA test was positive in 86.7% (56/60) and negative in 13.3% (8/60), while the immunocomb-Eliza was positive in 91.7% (55/60) and negative in 8.3% (5/60). IFAT revealed 90.0% (54/60) of DBELIA samples as positive while 10.0% (6/50) as negative, with an agreement of 83.3% (50/60). IFAT revealed 96.7% (58/60) of immunocomb-Eliza samples as positive and 3.3% (2/60) as negative, with an agreement of 91.7% (55/60). There was an overall agreement of 86.7% (52/60) among the three assays. Five (62.5%) of the 8 disagreement were of low IFAT, titre range < 1:240 attributable to false initial IFAT results from non-specific antibody binding, cross-reactivity or antigenic variations. A positive correlation was observed in the results of the 3 assays with correlation coefficients (r2) of 0.8214 at P < 0.0001 and 0.8984 at P < 0.001 for IFAT-DBELIA and IFAT-immunocomb-Eliza, respectively. No statistically significant differences were observed in their results. The chi-square values were 0.9021, P-0.3142 and 0.04322, P-0.7624 for DBELIA and immunocomb-Eliza, respectively. Sensitivities and specificities were 92.6%, 83% and 96.0%, 87.0% for DBELIA and immunocomb-Eliza, respectively. When based on IFAT titre range of over 1:240. Both assays were sensitive and specific for the field diagnosis of CME but the immunocomb-Eliza is more sensitive and specific than the DBELIA, but the latter saves time, requires no special equipment and personnel and has a preservable shelf-life (>1 year) for its dot-antigen package.