Zoaktafi Ehsan, Sharifiyazdi Hassan, Derakhshandeh Nooshin, Bakhshaei-Shahrbabaki Farnoosh
Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
Mol Biol Res Commun. 2023;12(2):87-94. doi: 10.22099/mbrc.2023.47151.1821.
Canine hepatozoonosis is a tick-transmitted apicomplexan infection caused by two species of Hepatozoon, , and . The present research aimed at detection of Hepatozoon spp. in dogs and its effects on hematological alterations. Blood samples were taken from 108 dogs to assess Hepatozoon spp. Phylogenetic analysis was performed based on the 18S rDNA marker by PCR assay and Giemsa-stained blood smear examination. Of the 108 blood samples of dogs tested in the present study, eight (7.40%, 95% CI: 3.25-14.07%) were positive by the Hepatozoon-specific PCR assay. However, in the microscopic examination, only one sample (0.93%) was positive. All of the sequenced samples were H. canis. The Hepatozoon sequences obtained from PCR amplicons in the canine-positive cases exhibited 100% similarity to each other and 98.47-100% similarity to other relevant sequences in GenBank. These findings represent the first molecular evidence of in dog populations in South Iran. Furthermore, according to the hematological analysis, significantly higher average numbers of neutrophils and lymphocytes were found in the infected group compared to the non-infected dogs. In this study, no statistically significant connection (P<0.05) was observed between infection and the examined risk factors.
犬肝簇虫病是由两种肝簇虫（Hepatozoon）引起的一种蜱传播的顶复门感染。本研究旨在检测犬体内的肝簇虫及其对血液学改变的影响。采集了108只犬的血液样本以评估肝簇虫。通过聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测和吉姆萨染色血涂片检查，基于18S核糖体DNA（rDNA）标记进行系统发育分析。在本研究检测的108份犬血样中，有8份（7.40%，95%置信区间：3.25 - 14.07%）通过肝簇虫特异性PCR检测呈阳性。然而，在显微镜检查中，只有一份样本（0.93%）呈阳性。所有测序样本均为犬肝簇虫（H. canis）。从犬阳性病例的PCR扩增子中获得的肝簇虫序列彼此之间显示出100%的相似性，与GenBank中的其他相关序列相似性为98.47 - 100%。这些发现代表了伊朗南部犬群中犬肝簇虫的首个分子证据。此外，根据血液学分析，与未感染犬相比，感染组的中性粒细胞和淋巴细胞平均数量显著更高。在本研究中，未观察到肝簇虫感染与所检查的风险因素之间存在统计学上的显著关联（P<0.05）。
