Diagnosis of canine vector-borne diseases in young dogs: a longitudinal study.

ABSTRACT: Canine vector-borne diseases (CVBDs) pose a diagnostic challenge, particularly when a dog is coinfected with more than one pathogen. The purpose of this study was to generate information about the diagnosis of CVBDs in young dogs following their first exposure to flea, tick, sand fly, louse, and mosquito vectors. From March 2008 to May 2009, 10 purpose-bred young naive beagle dogs and a cohort of 48 mixed-breed dogs living in an area to which CVBD is endemic in southern Italy were monitored using different diagnostic tests (cytology, serology, and PCR). Overall, PCR detected the highest number of dogs infected with Anaplasma platys, Babesia vogeli, and Ehrlichia canis, whereas seroconversion was a more sensitive indicator of exposure to Leishmania infantum. For A. platys infection, combini

SUBMITTER: Otranto D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2937705 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature