TDK conference 2017

As hunting dogs visit natural habitats more often than the other pet dogs they can be infected more frequently with blood-sucking arthropods. For this reason the risk is higher for acquiring vector-borne pathogens causing infections or diseases. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the local hunting dogs are infected with protozoa, bacteria and nematodes transmitted by hard ticks and mosquitoes, respectively.

Blood samples with data were collected from 145 asymptomatic dogs in 10 counties of Hungary, mainly in the Transdanubian region. The majority of dogs were Hungarian pointer bloodhounds and terriers, their ages ranged between 1-13 years.

Parasitological (modified Knott test), serological (IDEXX SNAP 4Dx * Plus, IFAT) and molecular biological methods were applied.

Dirofilaria repens and Dirofilaria immitis were found in 17 and 2 samples, respectively. Both nematode species occurred in 4 dogs. Babesia canis (41 dogs) and Hepatozoon canis (40 dogs) were the most prevalent the tick-borne pathogens. Thirteen dogs (9%) were found to be infected with Anaplasma phagocytophilum with serological methods but only two ones (1,4%) with PCR methods. Two hunting dogs were seropositive for Ehrlichia canis and the same seropositive cases were found for Borrelia burgdorferi. Neither Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurrensis nor Rickettsia spp. was detected. Altogether 51 (35,2 %) dogs were infected with one, 28 (19,3%) with two and 6 (4,1%) with three vector-borne agents.