First report on molecular characteristics and risk factor analysis of in dogs in Khon Kaen, Thailand.

BACKGROUND AND AIM

is a well-known cause of both anemia and thrombocytopenia in dogs. There are insufficient epidemiological data on this blood parasite in Thailand and the association of infections with hematological abnormalities. This study aimed to analyze the molecular characteristics and to identify as well as the risk factors associated with infection in dogs in Khon Kaen, Thailand.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Blood samples from 126 dogs that visited animal clinics were subjected to molecular detection using nested polymerase chain reaction for gene. The risk factors and hematological profiles associated with the infection were analyzed using the logistic regression test in program SPSS version 19.

RESULTS

Forty-one dogs were infected, indicating a 32.5% molecular infection rate of . The factors significantly associated with infection include animal housing status, low packed cell volume, low red blood cell count, and low platelets (p<0.05). Ten positive samples were amplified, sequenced, and phylogenetically analyzed. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis confirmed the current ten samples as compared with reference sequences in GenBank, using the BLAST program hosted by NCBI, which showed 99.74-100% similarity.

CONCLUSION

This study provided the first data of infection rate of using nested PCR and molecular characteristics of in randomly selected domestic dogs in Khon Kaen, Thailand.