MOLECULAR DETECTION AND OCCURRENCE OF EHRLICHIOSIS AND ANAPLASMOSIS IN DOGS
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Date
2017
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COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES-MANNUTHY,THRISSUR
Abstract
Ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis comprises a major part among the vector borne infectious diseases affecting the canine population in Kerala. The present study aims to evolve a better diagnostic tool for the diseases at the molecular level along with assessment of various clinicopathological and epidemiological factors. Hundred dogs presented to the Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex, Mannuthy and University Veterinary Hospital, Kokkalai having fever, lymphadenopathy and thrombopenia were screened for the presence of E. canis and A. phagocytophilum. Iniatially screening was done by peripheral blood/buffy coat smear examination. Out of hundred animals screened monocytic inclusions were noticed in sixty per cent of cases and neutrophilic inclusions in three per cent. Buffy coat smears were more sensitive to detect the organism than blood smear examination. Polymerase chain reaction was performed using DNA isolated from hundred dogs with clinical signs suggestive of ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis. Conventional PCR was employed for E. canis and A. phagocytophilum using species specific primer targeting 16S rRNA, which yielded positive results in four and eleven samples respectively. Nested PCR was employed for amplification of Ehrlichial DNA which yielded fifty five positive samples using genus specific primers and twenty positive samples using species specific primer. Nested PCR amplification for Ehrichia ewingi gave positive results in four samples. Labrador Retrievers were the breed found to be predominantly affected with ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis. More incidence of ehrilichiosis was noticed in males and anaplasmosis in females. Most prominenet clinical signs noticed were pyrexia, lymphadenopathy, pallor or congestion of mucus membrane, opthalmic lesions, epileptic seizures and bleeding episodes in ehrlichiosis and in anaplasmosis, pyrexia, lymphadenopathy, change in colour of mucus membrane, splenomegaly and lameness. Haematological abnormalities noticed were microcytic hypochromic anaemia, thrombocytopenia and monocytosis in ehrlichiosis and anaemia and granulocytosis in anaplasmosis. Serum biochemical profile revealed hyperprotinaemia with hypergammaglobulinaemia in ehrlichiosis and elevated serum alkaline phosphatase level and creatinine in anaplasmosis. The result of present study revealed a higher prevalence of ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis among dogs in Kerala and it also proved PCR as a sensitive diagnostic tool for detecting these diseases.
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KVASU REFERENCE CITATION