Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo Kuang Road, Taichung, Taiwan.
Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis. 2012 Dec;35(6):599-606. doi: 10.1016/j.cimid.2012.08.001. Epub 2012 Aug 25.
Canine ehrlichiosis/anaplasmosis and heartworm diseases are vector-borne and zoonotic infections. To compare epidemiology of these vector-borne diseases, a community-based study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors of Ehrlichia canis, Anaplasma sp. and Dirofilaria immitis infections among healthy pet dogs. Prevalence distribution patterns were geographically contrasting between tick-borne E. canis/Anaplasma sp. infections and mosquito-borne D. immitis infection. Although highly enzootic communities of ehrlichiosis/anaplasmosis scattered in mountainous environment at elevations between 100m and 1000m, those of heartworm disease mainly distributed in urbanized plains. After multiple logistic regression analysis, it further showed that older age group and outdoor housing were associated with higher risk of heartworm infection; being male and having tick infestation associated with higher risk of E. canis infection whereas being male and free-roaming associated with higher risk of Anaplasma infection. These findings may reflect different vectors for disease transmission, and different kinetics of environment-pathogen-host interaction.
犬埃立克体病/无形体病和心丝虫病是由媒介传播的人畜共患病。为了比较这些媒介传播疾病的流行病学，进行了一项基于社区的研究，以确定健康宠物狗中犬埃立克体、无形体属和犬恶丝虫感染的血清阳性率和危险因素。蜱传播的 E. canis/无形体属感染和蚊传播的 D. immitis 感染的流行分布模式在地理上存在差异。尽管高度地方性的埃立克体病/无形体病在海拔 100m 至 1000m 的山区环境中广泛分布，但心丝虫病主要分布在城市化的平原地区。经过多项逻辑回归分析，结果进一步表明，年龄较大和户外居住与感染心丝虫的风险增加有关；雄性和有蜱虫感染与感染 E. canis 的风险增加有关，而雄性和自由放养与感染无形体的风险增加有关。这些发现可能反映了不同的疾病传播媒介，以及环境-病原体-宿主相互作用的不同动力学。
