The disease caused by Ehrlichia canis in dogs at some veterinary establishments in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Ehrlichia canis in dogs at some
veterinary establishments in Ho Chi Minh City from January, 2020 to May, 2020. The result
of clinical examination showed that there were 27 out of 825 dogs suspiciously infected with
E. canis, accounting for 3.27%. The blood samples were collected from 27 suspicious dogs to
examine with the test kit and blood smear assay to clarify the infection rate of dogs with E. canis.
The studied results showed that 27/27 (100%) of suspicious dogs were positive with E.canis by
the kit test. However, there were only 17/27 dogs harbored the mulberry embryos of E. canis
determined from the blood. It indicated that the blood smear assay was necessary to confirm
E. canis infection in dogs. The infection rate of dog with E. canis was independent on the dog
breeders, gender, ages and tick infection state (P>0.05). The common clinical symptoms of
dogs infected with E. canis included hemorrhage on the abdomen, pale mucosa, vomiting,
loss of appetite and weight, black stools, eye bleeding, mucus discharge, nosal bleeding. The
treatment regimen for 27 dogs infected with E. canis was doxycycline and prednisolone used in
28 days and combined with imochem in the severe cases. The treatment efficacy was high with
88.9% of dogs were recovered.