Epidemiology of Canine Ehrlichiosis in Jabalpur Region of Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

Numerous plant and animal species that are either directly or indirectly linked to tick-borne haemo-protozoan infections thrive in the tropical and subtropical climates of the Indian subcontinents. The climate in India is home to the brown dog tick or Rhipicephalus sanguineus, which is a carrier of the canine disease Ehrlichia. The main purpose of the study is to explore the prevalence and their risk factors associated with Canine Ehrlichiosis. For this 422 canines suspected for positive ehrlichiosis was examined through Giemsa stained thin blood smear and out of them 25 canine samples were found positive showed incidence rate of 5.92%. Prevalence of ehrlichiosis was more in summer season when compare in to winter and monsoon which might be due to high activity of tick vectors. Younger and male dogs showed higher prevalence in comparison to older and female canines. The clinical signs were tick infestation (96%), lymphadenopathy (80%), anorexia (76%), pyrexia (72%), anaemia (56%) and pale conjunctival mucous membrane (56%) along with epistaxis, lameness and ocular problem. This study identifies the present scenario and associated risk factors of the disease, which may help to reduce the infection of canine ehrlichiosis.