Institute for Medical Research- National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Group for Medical Entomology, Belgrade, Serbia.
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Vet Med Sci. 2023 Jan;9(1):111-118. doi: 10.1002/vms3.1061. Epub 2022 Dec 29.
The epidemiological status concerning many canine tick-borne diseases (TBDs) in Serbia is still insufficiently known.
Our study aimed to investigate the presence of tick-borne pathogens of the family Anaplasmataceae and Hepatozoon spp., as a cause of illnesses accompanied by clinical signs that can occur in dogs with anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis and hepatozoonosis.
Dogs are included in the study based on the presence of a minimum of three clinical and/or pathological findings that could be associated with anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis and hepatozoonosis. During the study (April-October 2018), 11 dogs met the conditions to be included in the survey. Identification of the causative agent in the blood of diseased dogs was performed by conventional PCR followed by sequencing.
The presence of the pathogens was confirmed in three animals (3/11, 27.3%). The presence of Ehrlichia canis was confirmed in 3-month-old female Rottweiler puppy, an 8-year old Miniature Schnauzer female was positive for Hepatozoon canis infection, while 4-year-old mixed breed male dog was co-infected with both mentioned pathogens. These are the first cases of autochthonous infection with E. canis and H. canis in dogs from Serbia confirmed by molecular methods.
The results of our study indicate the importance of molecular methods to establish a reliable diagnosis of TBDs. Also, the confirmed presence of causative agents of canine monocytic ehrlichiosis and hepatozoonosis in Serbia appeals to veterinary practitioners that it is necessary to exclude the presence of those diseases in suspicious dogs.
塞尔维亚有关许多犬 tick-borne 疾病（TBDs）的流行病学状况仍知之甚少。
我们的研究旨在调查属于 Anaplasmataceae 科和 Hepatozoon spp. 的 tick-borne 病原体的存在情况，这些病原体是引起犬类出现伴临床症状疾病的原因，这些疾病可能与犬类边虫病、埃立克体病和肝孢子虫病有关。
根据至少存在三种可能与边虫病、埃立克体病和肝孢子虫病相关的临床和/或病理发现，将犬纳入研究。在研究期间（2018 年 4 月至 10 月），有 11 只犬符合纳入调查的条件。通过常规 PCR 后测序，在患病犬的血液中鉴定病原体。
在 3 只动物（3/11，27.3%）中证实了病原体的存在。在一只 3 个月大的雌性罗特韦尔犬中证实了犬埃立克体病的存在，一只 8 岁的迷你雪纳瑞雌性犬感染了肝孢子虫病，而一只 4 岁的混种雄性犬同时感染了上述两种病原体。这些是首次通过分子方法在塞尔维亚的犬类中证实的本地感染犬埃立克体病和肝孢子虫病病例。
我们的研究结果表明，分子方法对于建立 TBDs 的可靠诊断非常重要。此外，在塞尔维亚证实了犬单核埃立克体病和肝孢子虫病的病原体的存在，这呼吁兽医从业者有必要排除在可疑犬类中存在这些疾病的可能性。
