The prevalence, genetic characteristics and treatment efficiency of intracellular parasitic disease caused by Ehrlichia canis in dogs in Ben Tre province

Abstract

Intracellular parasitic disease caused by Ehrlichia canis is common and has a significant impact to the health and mortality of dogs. The objective of this research was to determine the prevalence, genetic characteristics, and treatment efficacy for E. canis in dogs in Ben Tre province. The result of study using blood smear staining method showed that the percentage of dogs infected with E. canis in Ben Tre province, out of the total surveyed cases and suspected cases, was 11.32% and 45.65%, respectively. The infection rate of dog was not depend on gender, age, or rearing method. PCR test results indicated that all 5 samples collecting in Ben Tre province were positive with E. canis. Comparing the similarity level of gene sequence and amino acid sequence of 16S rRNA
gene in 5 E. canis infected samples in Ben Tre province with E. canis strains in the region and in the world showed that although there were differences in gene sequence, but the similarity of amino acid sequence was very high, these E. canis strains belonged to the same branch with the E. canis strains in India and in Thailand. The recovery dog rate from E. canis was 82.86%, the non-recovery rate was 14.29%, and the mortality rate was 2.85%.