A community approach of pathogens and their arthropod vectors (ticks and fleas) in dogs of African Sub-Sahara

Parasites & Vectors

Table 5 Pathogen prevalence in the blood of dogs from six African countries

Pathogen prevalence	Overall	Tanzania (%)			Kenya (%)			Uganda (%)			Nigeria (%)			Ghana (%)			Namibia (%)
Pathogen prevalence	Overall	Rural	Urban	P	Rural	Urban	P	Rural	Urban	P	Rural	Urban	P	Rural	Urban	P	Rural	Urban	P
Pathogens in blood
B. canis	0.0	0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0
B. rossi	3.8	0.0	1.9		12.0	3.9		8.0	6.0		3.5	3.9		0.0	1.8		0.0	0.0
E. chaffeensis	0.0	0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0
A. platys	14.1	13.6	21.2	ns	4.0	0.0		0.0	6.0		33.3	7.8	**	27.5	29.8	ns	19.3	7.4	ns
A. phagocytophilum	0.0	0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0
R. conorii	0.0	0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0
R. africae	0.0	0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0
C. burnetti	0.5	0.0	0.0		2.7	0.0		0.0	0.0		1.8	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0
H. canis	58.6	77.3	67.3	ns	85.3	53.9	**	98.0	86.0	ns	56.1	25.5	**	67.5	45.6	*	29.0	8.8	*
E. canis	18.5	27.3	19.2	ns	13.3	19.2	ns	0.0	4.0		31.6	15.7	*	25.0	28.1	ns	22.5	19.1	ns
D. immitis^a	2.8	4.6	5.8		1.3	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		7.5	14.0	ns	0.0	0.0
Trypanosoma spp.^a	0.2	0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		1.8	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0
Individuals (N)	601	44	52		75	26		50	50		57	51		40	57		31	68
Shannon index		1.0	1.1	ns	1.0	0.8	ns	0.3	0.6	ns	1.3	1.2	**	1.2	1.4	ns	1.1	1.0	ns
Sero-positive
Anaplasma spp.	13.1	20.5	21.2	ns	9.7	7.7		4.0	24.0	**	4.0	20.5	***	0.0	3.9		23.3	7.9	**
Borrelia spp.	0.2	0.0	0.0		1.4	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0
Ehrlichia spp.	26.3	31.8	28.9	ns	22.2	15.4	ns	10.0	4.0	ns	54.0	32.0	*	35.0	21.2	ns	40.0	25.4	ns
Heartworm^b	0.3	0.0	0.0		0.0	3.9		0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0		0.0	1.9		0.0	0.0
Individuals (N)	579	44	52		72	26		50	50		50	50		40	52		30	63

DNA-based (qPCR) pathogen prevalence in the blood of dogs from urban and rural areas of 6 African countries. Prevalence of 2 additional pathogens—not transmitted by fleas or ticks (D. immitis and Trypanosoma spp.)—are reported as well. In addition, sero-prevalence of four pathogen genera are given, for which the IDEXX test was used. For statistical outcomes on pairwise macro-geographic differences, see Fig. 4. As a measure of species diversity, a Shannon index has been provided
***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05, ns (not-significant) P > 0.05
^aNon-tick-or flea-borne pathogens
^bPositive in IDEXX test, but all negative in qPCR’s

ISSN: 1756-3305