Giemsa-stained, peripheral blood smears of 67 dogs, showing clinical signs typical of babesiosis or reminiscent of concurrent babesiosis and ehrlichiosis, were examined for the presence of Babesia canis and Ehrlichia canis. Since Cowdria ruminantium cross-reacts with Ehrlichia, the sera of these dogs were also subjected to the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test in which C. ruminantium was...

Ehrlichia spp. is tick-borne zoonotic pathogen that can infect humans and animals. Nowadays, among the tests used in diagnosis of ehrlichiosis, importance molecular methods increasing steadily due to their high sensitivity specificity. The aim this study was determine analytical a conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting disulfide oxidoreductase (DSB) gene. DSB gene cloned into TO...

Doxycycline is the treatment of choice for canine monocytic ehrlichiosis (CME), a well-characterized disease and valuable model for tick-borne zoonoses. Conflicting reports of clearance of Ehrlichia canis after treatment with doxycycline suggested that the disease phase during which treatment is initiated influences outcomes of these treatments. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the eff...

Ehrlichia (E.) canis is a Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacterium responsible for canine monocytic ehrlichiosis. Currently, the genetic diversity of E. canis strains worldwide is poorly defined. In the present study, sequence analysis of the nearly full-length 16S rDNA (1,620 bp) and the complete coding region (4,269 bp) of the gp200 gene, which encodes the largest major immunoreactive p...

Ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis are tick-borne diseases. Ehrlichia canis and Anaplasma platys infect mainly white cells and platelets, respectively. The main DNA source for PCR is peripheral blood, but the potential of blood cell fractions has not been extensively investigated. This study aims at assessment of whole blood (WB) and blood fractions potential in nested PCR (nPCR) to diagnose canine ...

To verify the presence of cross-reaction among leishmaniosis, ehrlichiosis and babesiosis in serological diagnostics used in human visceral leishmaniasis control programs, serum samples from leishmaniasis endemic and non-endemic areas were collected and tested by Indirect Fluorescent Antibody (IFAT) and Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). All serum samples from endemic areas were positiv...

Canine ehrlichiosis and babesiosis are the most prevalent tick-borne diseases in Brazilian dogs. Few studies have focused attention in surveying tick-borne diseases in the Brazilian Amazon region. A total of 129 blood samples were collected from dogs living in the Brazilian eastern Amazon. Seventy-two samples from dogs from rural areas of 19 municipalities and 57 samples from urban stray dogs f...

The aims of this study were to determine the seroprevalence of Ehrlichia spp. and risk factors for exposure in a restricted population of dogs, horses, and humans highly exposed to tick bites in a Brazilian rural settlement using a commercial ELISA rapid test and two indirect immunofluorescent assays (IFA) with E. canis and E. chaffeensis crude antigens. Serum samples from 132 dogs, 16 horses a...

Ehrlichia canis major immunoreactive proteins of 36 and 19 kDa elicit the earliest detectable antibody responses during the acute phase of canine monocytic ehrlichiosis. Genes encoding the major immunoreactive 36-kDa protein of E. canis and the corresponding ortholog of E. chaffeensis (47 kDa) were identified and the proteins characterized. The molecular masses of the strongly immunoreactive re...

Canine monocytic ehrlichiosis and rickettsiosis are zoonotic tick-borne diseases of canids caused by the intracellular obligate bacteria Ehrlichia canis and Rickettsia species respectively. In this study, we investigated using standard and real-time PCR and sequencing, the occurrence and molecular characterization of E. canis and Rickettsia species in the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) from the s...