Molecular detection and risk factors for Anaplasma platys infection in dogs from Egypt

Parasites & Vectors

Fahdah Ayed Alshammari¹  Abdelfattah Selim²  Hamdan Almohammed³  Abdelhamed Abdelhady⁴  Abdulaziz Alouffi⁵ 

[1] College of Sciences and Literature Microbiology, Northern Border University, KSA;Department of Animal Medicine (Infectious Diseases), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University;Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Almaarefa University;Department of Parasitology and Animal Diseases, National Research Center;King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology;

关键词: Dogs;    Anaplasma platys;    Conventional PCR;    16S rRNA gene;    Phylogenetic analysis;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13071-021-04943-8

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Background Anaplasma platys is a tick-borne bacterium which infects blood platelets of dogs, causing canine cyclic thrombocytopenia. The disease is distributed worldwide, particularly in the tropics and subtropics, but information on the epidemiology of A. platys infection in dogs is fragmentary in many countries, including Egypt. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and risk factors associated with A. platys infection in dogs from Egypt. Methods A conventional PCR targeting a fragment of the 16S rRNA gene of A. platys was used to screen 500 dogs from five North Egyptian governorates. DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed for one of the positive samples. Results The overall prevalence of A. platys in the studied dogs was 6.4%. Females of the German shepherd breed without veterinary care had higher odds for A. platys positivity. High tick infestation and lack of anti-tick treatment were also identified as risk factors for A. platys infection. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the sequence obtained herein was closely related to sequences from Egypt, South Africa and Uruguay. Conclusions This is the first large-scale epidemiological study of A. platys in Egypt, where female German shepherd dogs without veterinary care, as well as dogs with high tick infestation and without anti-tick treatment are at a higher risk of infection. Graphical abstract

【 授权许可】

Unknown