Abstract
Tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) in dogs have attracted much attention over the last decade since some are now known to be zoonotic and pose a threat to both animal and human health sectors. Despite the increase in the number of studies on canine TBPs worldwide, only a few studies have been conducted in resource-limited countries where research priority is given to food animals than companion animals. In the present study, the occurrence of TBPs of the genera Babesia, Hepatozoon, Anaplasma, and Ehrlichia was investigated in 209 owned and stray dogs in three major cities in Malawi through molecular techniques. Among the examined dogs, 93 (44.5%) were infected with at least one TBP. The detection rates were 23.1% for Babesia rossi, 2.9% for B. vogeli, 19.1% for Hepatozoon canis, 2.4% for Anaplasma platys, and 3.8% for Ehrlichia canis. This is the first molecular study that has provided evidence that dogs in Malawi are infected with TBPs. Sensitization is required for veterinary practitioners, dog handlers, and pet owners as the detected pathogens affect the animals’ wellbeing. Further studies focusing on rural areas with limited or no access to veterinary care are required to ascertain the extent of the TBP infection in dogs.
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Funding
This study was financially supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI (grant numbers 15H05633, 16H06429, 16K21723, 16H06431, 19H03118, and 20K21358) and the International Collaborative Research Programme for Tackling Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Challenges in African countries (JP18jm0510001) of Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED).
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R.N. and E.C.: conception and design of the experiments. R.N. and C.S.: obtainment of the fund. H.K., T.R, R.S., and L.S: sample collection. E.C.: performance of the experiments; E.C. and R.N.: data analysis. E.C.: writing—original draft preparation; K.K., N.N., and R.N.: supervision. K.H., K.K., N.N., C.S., and R.N.: writing—reviewing and editing. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
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This was a parallel study of our initial study (Chatanga et al. 2020) which was approved by Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MoAIWD) through the Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development (DAHLD) reference number 10/15/32/D and informed consent was obtained from the owners/custodians.
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Chatanga, E., Kainga, H., Razemba, T. et al. Molecular detection and characterization of tick-borne hemoparasites and Anaplasmataceae in dogs in major cities of Malawi. Parasitol Res 120, 267–276 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06967-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06967-y