Antibody occurrence of Anti-Toxoplasma gondii, Leishmania sp. and Ehrlichia canis in dogs in Bahia State

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis, leishmaniasis, and ehrlichiosis are zoonoses that have cosmopolitan distribution and cause important clinical changes in dogs and humans. Dogs are important in the epidemiology and transmission of Leishmania infantum and Ehrlichia canis and serve as indicators of environmental contamination by the transmission of Toxoplasma gondii. The aim of this study was to detect antibodies against T. gondii, Leishmania spp., and E. canis in dogs from Bahia and identify the risk factors associated with infections. Blood samples were collected from 353 dogs from several municipalities of Bahia and the sera were tested using reaction of indirect immunofluorescence (RIFI) for T. gondii and Leishmania spp. and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for E. canis. The data were tabulated and analyzed using EPI-INFO 7.1.5 program. Of 353 samples analyzed, 144 (40.8%) were positive for T. gondii (antibody titer 16-4,096) and 92 (26.1%) were seropositive for Leishmania spp. (antibody titer 40-160). The seropositivity for E. canis was the highest as compared to that of the other agents. Furthermore, 184 (52.1%) samples were positive for antibodies against E. canis. Sixteen (4.5%), 71 (20.1%), and 25 (7.1%) samples were co-infected with T. gondii and Leishmania spp., T. gondii and E. canis, and E. canis and Leishmania spp., respectively, while 20 (5.7%) dogs presented co-seropositivity for all three etiological agents. Risk factors such as age, sex, habitat (stray/not stray), and region of dog’s origin were analyzed; age ( ? 1 year) was significantly associated with T. gondii (p = 0.03) and E. canis (p = 0.02) infection and stray animals were more exposed to T. gondii (p = 0.03) and Leishmania spp. (p = 0.01) infection. The results confirmed the heterogeneous distribution of the three etiological agents in dogs from Bahia and identified animals with co-infections.