Comparison of conventional polymerase chain reaction and routine blood smear for the detection of Babesia canis, Hepatozoon canis, Ehrlichia canis, and Anaplasma platys in Buriram Province, Thailand

Vet World Vol.12 May-2019 Article-12

Research Article

Veterinary World, 12(5): 700-705

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.700-705

Rucksak Rucksaken¹, Cherdsak Maneeruttanarungroj^2,3, Thanaporn Maswanna⁴, Metita Sussadee¹, and Pithai Kanbutra⁵

1. Department of Veterinary Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Technology, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand.
2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand.
3. Bioenergy Research Unit, Faculty of Science, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand.
4. Scientific Instrument Center, Faculty of Science, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand.
5. Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.

Background and Aim: Dog blood parasites are important tick-borne diseases causing morbidity and mortality in dogs worldwide. Four dog blood parasites species are commonly found in Thailand: Babesia canis, Hepatozoon canis, Ehrlichia canis, and Anaplasma platys. They are transmitted easily by tick species. However, there is little prevalence data available in Thailand. Diseases presentation of blood parasites infection is similar, but the treatment of each species is different. Current diagnosis mainly relies on microscopic examination of a stained blood smear, which has low sensitivity. Therefore, accurate diagnosis is important. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and routine blood smears in the detection of four blood parasites species in dogs from Buriram Province, Thailand.

Materials and Methods: In total, 49 EDTA-blood samples were collected from dogs in Buriram Province, Thailand. Blood parasite infection was compared using the Giemsa-stained blood smear technique to identify the parasite under a 100× oil immersion with PCR amplification of the 18S rDNA gene of B. canis and H. canis and the 16S rDNA gene of E. canis and A. platys.

Results: Only one dog out of 49 was positive for H. canis based on microscopic examination whereas the PCR results showed that 2.04% (1/49), 4.08% (2/49), 36.73% (18/49), and 30.61% (15/49) of dogs were positive for B. canis, H. canis, E. canis, and A. platys, respectively. Moreover, coinfection was found in 16.33% (8/49) of dogs.

Conclusion: This study is the first report to demonstrate the molecular prevalence of blood parasites in domestic dogs in Buriram Province. The results indicated that the PCR method exhibited much higher sensitivity and reliability for blood parasites diagnosis in dogs. Therefore, our data support serious concern regarding the diagnostic technique used in routine blood testing and also provide prevalence data for the management and control of blood parasites in this area. Keywords: Blood parasites, dog, polymerase chain reaction, prevalence.

Keywords: Blood parasites, dog, polymerase chain reaction, prevalence.

How to cite this article: Rucksaken R, Maneeruttanarungroj C, Maswanna T, Sussadee M, Kanbutra P (2019) Comparison of conventional polymerase chain reaction and routine blood smear for the detection of Babesia canis, Hepatozoon canis, Ehrlichia canis, and Anaplasma platys in Buriram Province, Thailand, Veterinary World, 12(5): 700-705.

Received: 11-12-2018 Accepted: 02-04-2019 Published online: 24-05-2019

Corresponding author: Rucksak Rucksaken E-mail: cvtrsr@ku.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.700-705

Copyright: Rucksaken, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.