First report on molecular characteristics and risk factor analysis of Ehrlichia canis in dogs in Khon Kaen, Thailand

Vet World Vol.15 January-2022 Article-29

Research Article

Veterinary World, 15(1): 232-238

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2022.232-238

Thongphet Mitpasa¹, Biethee Rani Sarker¹, Arayaporn Macotpet², Pattara-Anong Bupata³, Somboon Sangmaneedet¹, and Weerapol Taweenan¹

1. Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
2. Department of Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
3. Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.

Background and Aim: Ehrlichia canis is a well-known cause of both anemia and thrombocytopenia in dogs. There are insufficient epidemiological data on this blood parasite in Thailand and the association of infections with hematological abnormalities. This study aimed to analyze the molecular characteristics and to identify E. canis as well as the risk factors associated with E. canis infection in dogs in Khon Kaen, Thailand.

Materials and Methods: Blood samples from 126 dogs that visited animal clinics were subjected to molecular detection using nested polymerase chain reaction for E. canis 16S rRNA gene. The risk factors and hematological profiles associated with the infection were analyzed using the logistic regression test in program SPSS version 19.

Results: Forty-one dogs were infected, indicating a 32.5% molecular infection rate of E. canis. The factors significantly associated with E. canis infection include animal housing status, low packed cell volume, low red blood cell count, and low platelets (p<0.05). Ten positive samples were amplified, sequenced, and phylogenetically analyzed. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis confirmed the current ten samples as E. canis compared with reference sequences in GenBank, using the BLAST program hosted by NCBI, which showed 99.74-100% similarity.

Conclusion: This study provided the first data of infection rate of E. canis using nested PCR and molecular characteristics of E. canis in randomly selected domestic dogs in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Keywords: Ehrlichia canis, molecular characteristics, nested polymerase chain reaction, phylogenetic analysis, Thailand.

Keywords: Ehrlichia canis, molecular characteristics, nested polymerase chain reaction, phylogenetic analysis, Thailand.

How to cite this article: Mitpasa T, Sarker BR, Macotpet A, Bupata P, Sangmaneedet S, Taweenan W (2022) First report on molecular characteristics and risk factor analysis of Ehrlichia canis in dogs in Khon Kaen, Thailand, Veterinary World, 15(1): 232-238.

Received: 27-08-2021 Accepted: 28-12-2021 Published online: 31-01-2022

Corresponding author: E-mail: weerapol@kku.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2022.232-238

Copyright: Mitpasa, 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.