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Updated: Apr 1, 2026
High-throughput Detection of Respiratory Pathogens in Animal Specimens by Nanoscale PCR
Published on: November 28, 2016
Molecular detection of vector-borne agents in dogs from ten provinces of China
Da Xu1, Jilei Zhang2, Zhengsheng Shi3
1Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, 225009, P. R. China. xuda910502@163.com.
Background:
Although many vector-borne agents are potential zoonoses and cause substantial morbidity and mortality in dogs worldwide, there are limited data on these organisms in dogs of China.
Methods:
Quantitative PCRs for vector-borne agents were performed to investigate their prevalences in convenience whole blood samples obtained from 1114 dogs from 21 veterinary clinics and a commercial dog breeding facility in ten provinces of China. In addition, the PCRs were performed on 146 Rhipicephalus sanguineus senso lato and 37 Linognathus setosus collected from dogs in the commercial dog breeding facility.
Results:
DNAs of Babesia gibsoni and B. vogeli (1.2 %), Ehrlichia canis (1.3 %), Hepatozoon canis (1.8 %) and Theileria orientalis (0.1 %) or a closely related organism were detected in the bloods of the dogs studied, and Babesia vogeli (3.4 %) and Ehrlichia canis (4.1 %) in R. sanguineus senso lato. The qPCRs for Anaplasma spp., Dirofilaria immitis and Leishmania spp. were negative for all blood samples, ticks and lice. At least one vector-borne agent was found in dogs from 5 of the 10 provinces investigated in this study. Overall, 4.4 % (49/1117) of the dogs studied were positive for at least one vector-borne agent with the prevalence being highest in the commercial breeding colony (24/97; 24.7 %).
Conclusions:
Our study confirms that B. vogeli, B. gibsoni, H. canis, and E. canis occur in China. Also, we present evidence that T. orientalis or a closely related organism can infect dogs.
