Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Beagle dogs infected with Ehrlichia from Ixodes ovatus ticks showed
By Watanabe, Malaika et al.·Published in Veterinary parasitology·2006·Faculty of Agriculture, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Experimental inoculation of beagle dogs with Ehrlichia species detected from Ixodes ovatus.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Three beagle dogs were given a strain of Ehrlichia bacteria from ticks to see if they would get sick. Throughout the 41-day study, the dogs only showed mild fever and some swelling of the spleen in two of them. Blood tests revealed some minor issues, but overall, they didn't show serious symptoms. The researchers found evidence of the bacteria in the blood and spleen of two dogs at different times during the study. This suggests that while dogs can be infected with this type of Ehrlichia, it likely doesn't cause significant illness.
People also search for: beagle dog fever · Ehrlichia infection in dogs · dog spleen swelling symptoms
Abstract
Three beagle dogs were inoculated with mice spleen/liver homogenate infected with Ehrlichia species detected from Ixodes ovatus (EIO) and one dog was used as a control. All three infected dogs did not show clinical signs of disease except for mild pyrexia throughout the 41-day study period. Splenomegaly was observed from Day 7 post-inoculation (p.i.) in two of the dogs. Hematological and biochemical abnormalities included mild thrombocytopenia, hypoproteinaemia, hypoalbuminaemia and increased C-reactive protein values. One of the dogs' splenic aspirate sample was PCR-positive for Ehrlichia Day 7 p.i. and another dogs' blood and bone marrow aspirate sample was PCR-positive Day 41 p.i. Sequence analysis of the PCR products showed 100% homology with the 16SrRNA partial gene sequence of Ehrlichia sp. HF565. Antibody titers to EIO were observed in all three experimentally infected dogs starting from the first week p.i. and cross-reactivity with Ehrlichia canis was detectable in one of the dogs starting Day 7 p.i. These data suggest that infection of dogs with EIO is possible, though is probably of low pathogenic importance. Cross-reactivity of EIO infected dog serum with E. canis raises the likelihood of false E. canis seropositive dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16309840/