[Canine ehrlichiosis in Senegal: human and canine seroepidemiological survey in Dakar]

Since 1986, several cases of human ehrlichiosis due to Ehrlichia canis have been reported in the U.S.A. Suspecting a pathology transmissible from dog to man the authors conducted an epidemiologic survey in an ehrlichiosis zone in Senegal on a population of 42 men and 66 dogs. In 1987, this rickettsiosis accounted for the deaths of a good half of the military dogs stationed in Dakar. Yet two years after implementing a prophylactic policy the seroprevalence rate in the kennel dropped from 53% to 13%. Among the dog population of the Gendarmerie Nationale Sénégalaise, the seroprevalence rate is very high (78%) and in the sample of civil, native dogs, seroprevalence was 37%. The fact that no positive human serology was observed among the working-dog handlers in permanent contact with the infected dogs leads the authors to conclude that man is not receptive to Ehrlichia canis.