title: Serosurvey of tick-borne pathogens in dogs from urban and rural areas from Parana State, Brazil.
abstract: Considering the zoonotic potential of tick-borne disease (TBD) agents and the fact that dogs may act as sentinels for human infection, the aim of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of TBD agents and risk factors for exposure in two different canine populations from Parana State, Southern Brazil. A total of 138 dog serum samples from urban (UA) (n=68) and rural (RA) (n=70) areas were tested with commercial ELISA rapid test for Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia canis and Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFAT) for Babesia vogeli. An overall of 92∕138 (66.7%) dogs, being 62∕68 (91.2%) from UA and 30∕70 (42.9%) from RA, were seropositive for at least one TBD agent. From the total number of dogs, sixty-two were positive for E. canis (44.9%), 19 (13.8%) for A. phagocytophilum, and 64 (46.4%) for B. vogeli. Anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies were not detected. Dogs from UA showed a higher percentage of tick infestation (p = 0.0135) and were highly associated with seropositivity to E. canis (p = 0.000005), A. phagocytophilum (p = 0.0001), and B. vogeli (p = 0.0012). In summary, the findings indicate that dogs from urban areas present higher potential risk exposure to TBD pathogens than those from rural areas.
authors.forename: Thállitha Samih Wischral Jayme
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Rafael Felipe da Costa
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Denise Amaral Gomes do
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Nascimento
authors.forename: Kátia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamekuni
authors.forename: Roberta Dos Santos
authors.initials: Rdos S
authors.lastname: Toledo
authors.forename: Ramaswamy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chandrashekar
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marcondes
authors.forename: Alexander Welker
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Biondo
authors.forename: Odilon
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vidotto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D004285:Dogs; D012423:Rural Health; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017282:Tick-Borne Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D013987:Ticks; D014504:Urban Health
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial