Vol. 11, Special Issue 10 (2022)

Author(s):
Sabhyata Sharma, Anish Yadav, Vikas Yadav and Sahil Kumar

Abstract:
Two canine diseases carried by ticks, Ehrlichia canis and Babesia canis, are of major global significance. The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, which has an expanding global distribution, transmits both diseases. The present report deals with the diagnosis of canine babesiosis and canine monocytic ehrlichiosis in a German Shepherd breed of dog presented at Division of Veterinary Parasitology, SKUAST-Jammu. The animal was showing symptoms of High fever, anorexia, weakness, weight loss, pale mucous membrane and the history of tick infestation with no other clinical signs. Thin blood smears were prepared and stained with Leishman stain and revealed positive for piroplasms of only Babesia spp. whereas for confirmatory diagnosis DNA was extracted from the blood sample, stored in EDTA vial and was subjected to individual Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) using Babesia canis, Ehrlichia canis, Babesia gibsoni, Hepatozoon canis and Anaplasma platys specific primers for confirmatory diagnosis. Hematobiochemical parameters were also determined. The PCR results confirmed the presence of Babesia canis, and also revealed the presence of Ehrlichia canis infection in dog. The results suggested that PCR is sensitive technique and can be used for diagnosis of latent infection.