25 September 2020

Detection of Leishmania infantum DNA and antibodies against Anaplasma spp

spotlight topic:

Detection of Leishmania infantum DNA and antibodies against Anaplasma spp., Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. and Ehrlichia canis in a dog kennel in South-Central Romania

Published 25/9/2020 Cazan, C.D. et al. (2020) Detection of Leishmania infantum DNA and antibodies against Anaplasma spp., Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. and Ehrlichia canis in a dog kennel in South-Central Romania. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, 62 (1), pp.1-4. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13028-020-00540-4 The study, which was performed between June and September 2017, tested blood and conjunctival swabs from 149 local free roaming dogs brought to the kennel for neutering and rehoming. All dogs were tested for antibodies against L. infantum, B. burgdorferi, E. canis, Anaplasma and D. immitis using serological rapid tests (SNAP® Leishmania and SNAP® 4Dx® (IDEXX Laboratories), with the following results:

B. burgdorferi s.l. in one dog (0.6%; 95% CI 0.02–3.68%)
Anaplasma antibodies in five dogs (3.3%; 95% CI 1.10–7.66%)
D. immitis female antigens in ten dogs (6.7%; 95% CI 3.27–12.00%)

All samples (n = 149) tested negative for anti-L. infantum antibodies to both SNAP® Leishmania but qPCR screening revealed that 30 dogs (20.1%; 95% CI 14.02–27.48%) were positive for L. infantum DNA; 14 were positive on blood samples (9.4%; 95% CI 5.23–15.26%) and 17 were positive on conjunctival swab samples (11.4%; 95% CI 6.79–17.64%), with one animal expressing positive results for both the blood and swab sample. The authors conclude that when adopting dogs from this region of Romania, owners should be aware of possible infection especially with L. infantum.