Canine Ehrlichiosis is caused by Ehrlichia canis, an obligate intracellular
bacterium. In Egypt, the epidemiology data about Ehrlichia canis is very limited
and the molecular characterization of the organism has not been identified.
Therefore, the objectives of this study were to study the prevalence of E. canis
among 400 examined Egyptian dogs based on PCR assay and subsequently analyze
the results by the logistic regression model. Furthermore, the molecular
characterization of the Egyptian strain of E. canis was investigated. Generally, the
prevalence of E. canis among dogs was 9.7%. The age, veterinary care, tick
infestation, and antiparasitic treatment have a significant effect on the prevalence of
E. canis in dogs as the prevalence rate was higher in older dogs (11.8%) and heavily
infested dogs with ticks (10.3%) but lower in dogs received veterinary care (7.5%)
and antiparasitic treatment (4.2%). In contrast, the sex, breed, and health status of
dogs showed no significant role in the infection with E. canis. Sequence analysis of
16S rRNA for the Egyptian strain of E. canis revealed 100% identity with that of
the American strain of E. canis and represented in one clade as obtained with a
phylogenetic tree. The present study is the first study on molecular characterization
of the Egyptian strain of E. canis, according to our knowledge. |
