title: Molecular epizootiology of canine hepatozoonosis in Croatia.
abstract: An epizootiological survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of hepatozoonosis in a population of 924 apparently asymptomatic dogs from different regions of Croatia. DNA was isolated from canine blood and screening PCR on the 666 bp fragment of 18S rRNA revealed that 108 (11.8%) of dogs were infected. Positive samples were confirmed by partial sequencing of the 18S rRNA gene. The consensus sequences, derived from various sequence data sets, were compared with sequences of 18S ssrRNA of Hepatozoon spp. available in GenBank. The alignments revealed 106 Hepatozoon canis and two Hepatozoon sp. sequences. Among H. canis isolates, we found a certain amount of heterogeneity, while both Hepatozoon sp. isolates were identical to the Spanish isolate (Accession No. AY600625) from Clethrionomys glareolus. On the basis of eight commonly mutated nucleotide positions in the partial 18S rRNA gene sequence, we divided the H. canis isolates into five groups. The results obtained indicate a higher prevalence and significance of hepatozoonosis in Croatia than previously believed and demonstrate that the organisms belonging to H. canis that infect European dogs are genetically very heterogeneous.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases with Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Heinzelova 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. lea.vojta@vef.hr
authors.forename: Lea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vojta
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mrljak
authors.forename: Snjezana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Curković
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zivicnjak
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marinculić
authors.forename: Relja
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Beck
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D017523:Croatia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology*; D004285:Dogs; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D015995:Prevalence; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology*; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S