GAINESVILLE/USA, July 5th (Biermann) – Arthropod vectors of canine infectious diseases are present throughout Florida, Nirit Tzipory and colleagues point out. Since crowded housing has the potential to bring vectors and infected dogs into close proximity, they assumed that prevalence of infection is higher in intensely housed dogs.

Thus, they examined the seroprevalence of D. immitis, E. canis, and B. burgdorferi in dogs residing in greyhound kennels and animal shelters (intensive housing), and dogs from private homes (low-intensity housing).

In Veterinary Parasitology they describe collecting serum from 1500 adult dogs, including 500 pet dogs referred to the Veterinary Medical Center of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida, 500 racing greyhounds, and 500 dogs residing in animal shelters. The samples were tested for D. immitis antigen, E. canis antibodies, and B. burgdorferi antibodies by ELISA.

Tzipory and his team report that shelter dogs and pet dogs were more frequently infected with D. immitis than racing greyhounds. In terms of the other 2 parasites they did not detect any differences between groups.

Furthermore, the investigators found that there was no association of sex or age with D. immitis infection, but pit bull type dogs were more than twice as likely to be infected than other breeds. Evidence for vector-borne infections, particularly D. immitis, was found in dogs throughout the state, they add. However, the prevalence was greatest for D. immitis infection in shelter dogs, likely due to lack of preventive medications prior to impoundment. 

References

• Veterinary Parasitiology,171(1-2):136-139