Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Vector-borne infections found in dogs traveled to Germany 2004-2008
By Hamel, D et al.·Published in Veterinary parasitology·2011·Institute of Comparative Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, Germany·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Canine vector-borne disease in travelled dogs in Germany--a retrospective evaluation of laboratory data from the years 2004-2008.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study of dogs that traveled to Germany from Mediterranean countries found that about 7.5% of them tested positive for certain infections spread by ticks and mosquitoes, like Leishmania and Babesia. The researchers looked at nearly 1,000 blood samples from these dogs over several years and found that most infections were relatively rare. Only a small number of dogs showed signs of these diseases, and none tested positive for heartworm. Overall, the risk of these infections in traveling dogs appears to be low, but it's still important for pet owners to be aware of potential health risks when traveling with their pets.
People also search for: dog travel infections · Leishmania in dogs · Babesia symptoms in dogs
Abstract
When importing dogs from various Mediterranean countries into Western Europe canine vector-borne infections are often considered as a major issue. Several diseases including babesiosis, leishmaniosis, hepatozoonosis, canine heartworm disease or ehrlichiosis can potentially be endemic in this region and pose a potential health risk for travelling dogs. Information on such infections in travelled dogs is scarce and therefore this study has been undertaken to examine the frequency of vector-borne infections in travelled dogs from the years 2004-2008. A total of 997 samples were screened by direct and/or indirect methods. Total seroprevalence was 7.5% with individual seroprevalence for the 3 species Leishmania spp., Ehrlichia canis and Babesia canis spp. ranging from 3.1 to 4.9%. Total detection rate for pathogens by direct methods was 3.5%. Nineteen Giemsa-stained blood smears were positive for large Babesia. None of the samples screened for microfilariae by Knott's test or for Dirofilaria immitis antigen by DiroChek(®) were positive. Using PCR methods Leishmania-DNA was detected in 1/42 samples but none of 59 animals screened for E. canis-DNA was positive. The prevalence values as established by indirect and direct pathogen detection are considered as rather low.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21565447/