Occurrence of tick-borne pathogens in dogs in a coastal region of the state of Ceará, northeastern Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of tick-borne pathogens (Ehrlichia canis, Babesia vogeli, Hepatozoon spp. and Rickettsia spp.) in dogs in Vila de Jericoacoara, coastal region of Ceará, Brazil. Blood samples were collected from 153 animals and analyzed using molecular and serological methods. Sixty animals were found to be infected or exposed to at least one of the pathogens studied. Babesia vogeli was the most prevalent pathogen (15%), followed by E. canis (13.7%) and Hepatozoon spp. (11.8%), which was identified as Hepatozoon canis through sequencing. Twenty dogs (13%) were seroreactive to Rickettsia spp. Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato was observed on 11.8% of the animals. There were associations between age (< 3 years old) and positivity for B. vogeli, and between habitation (stray dogs) and positivity for H. canis. There were also associations between anemia and infection with H. canis, and between leukopenia and exposure to Rickettsia spp. No association was detected between clinical alterations and infection with or exposure to the pathogens studied. The results confirmed that pathogens of veterinary importance are circulating in northeastern Brazil and showed that dogs are exposed to Rickettsia species with zoonotic potential, thus indicating a need for vector control measures.

Vector-borne pathogens of zoonotic concern in dogs from a Quilombola community in northeastern Brazil

“…This may be due to the shorter time of circulation of B. vogeli in the blood of infected animals. Epidemiological data from previous studies demonstrated that B. vogeli is highly prevalent in Brazil, with up to 8.2% molecularly positive dogs in Pernambuco (Ramos et al 2010 ; Dantas-Torres et al 2021 ), 8.0% in São Paulo (O’Dwyer et al 2009 ), 10.0% in Paraíba (Rotondano et al 2015 ), 15.0% in Ceará (Fonsêca et al 2022 ), 30.6% in Minas Gerais (Barbosa et al 2020 ) and 14.1% in Rio de Janeiro (Paulino et al 2018 ; Camilo et al 2021 ). Conversely, H. canis has been reported with lower prevalence (i.e., 0.4% to 5.4%) in Northeastern Brazil (Ramos et al 2010 ; Dantas-Torres et al 2021 ), differently from the Southeastern region, in which higher prevalence values (i.e., 58.7–79.2%) were reported (Miranda et al 2014 ; Spolidorio et al 2009 ).…”