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Updated: Jun 10, 2026
Isolation And Dendritic Cell-Uptake of Small Extracellular Vesicles from Echinococcus granulosus
Published on: March 28, 2025
First isolation and molecular characterization of Ehrlichia canis in Costa Rica, Central America
L E Romero1, A I Meneses2, L Salazar3
1Laboratorio Central de Diagnóstico Veterinario, Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG), San Salvador, El Salvador; Posgrado Regional en Ciencias Veterinarias Tropicales (PCVET), Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional (UNA), Heredia, Costa Rica.
Abstract:
The present study investigated Ehrlichia species in blood samples from dogs suspected of clinical ehrlichiosis, using molecular and isolation techniques in cell culture. From a total of 310 canine blood samples analyzed by 16S rRNA nested PCR, 148 (47.7%) were positive for Ehrlichia canis. DNA from Ehrlichia chaffeensis or Ehrlichia ewingii was not detected in any sample using species-specific primers in separated reactions. Leukocytes from five PCR-positive dogs were inoculated into DH82 cells; successful isolation of E. canis was obtained in four samples. Partial sequence of the dsb gene of eight canine blood samples (including the five samples for in vitro isolation) was obtained by PCR and their analyses through BLAST showed 100% of identity with the corresponding sequence of E. canis in GenBank. This study represents the first molecular diagnosis, isolation, and molecular characterization of E. canis in dogs from Costa Rica.
