Molecular detection and treatment of tick-borne pathogens in domestic dogs in Khon Kaen, northeastern Thailand.

We determined the prevalence of tick-borne pathogens in domestic dogs using microscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. A total of 303 EDTA blood samples were collected from domestic dogs in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand, in May 2013. Microscopic observation of Giemsa-stained smears and molecular diagnosis using conventional PCR were performed. Infected dogs were treated with imidocarb dipropionate, a combination of imidocarb dipropionate and doxycycline, or doxycycline alone. Seventy-one (23.4%) out of 303 dogs were positive for DNA of tick-borne pathogens. Of the 303 animals, 13.2% and 1.3% were positive for a single infection with Babesia spp or Ehrlichia canis, respec- tively using microscopy; whereas 19.5% and 3.0% were positive using the PCR technique. Co-infection with Babesia spp and E. canis was observed in 0.7%, and coinfection with Hepatozoon canis and E. canis in 0.3%. Infected dogs were treated with the assigned drugs, and elimination of the pathogens was demonstrated by microscopy and PCR. The results indicated that while both microscopic and PCR diagnostic techniques were useful for tick-borne pathogen detection, PCR was more effective. Imidocarb dipropionate and doxycycline were found to be effective for treatment of babesiosis and ehrlichiosis, respectively. The present study suggests that the PCR technique has high sensitivity and specificity for Babesia and Ehrlichia diagnosis as well as for detection of Babesia spp, E. canis and H. canis DNA in EDTA blood specimens.

Diagnósticos hechos a 1384 pacientes que consultaron por probable mordedura de arañas o picaduras de insectos / Diagnosis done to 1384 patients which had consulted for a probable spider bite or insect sting

Accumulate experience, from 1955 to 1995, in an outpatient univesity parasitology clinic in Santiago, which 1384 patients referred from diverse public and private medical institutions because of a probable spider bite or insect stings, is presented. It is noteworthy that only 618 (44,7 percent) of consultations corresponded to clinical conditions originated by arthropods, whereas from the remaining 766, 612 (44,2 percent) were due to a bacterial, viral or parasitic etiology and 154 (11,1 percent) were caused by physical or chemical agents. Frecuency of diagnosis was: loxoscelism 16,6 percent, spider bites (excluded loxosceles laeta) 1,3 percent, scorpion stings 0,9 percent, tick stings 2,2 percent insect bites 23,7 percent, impetigo 6,6 percent, folliculitis 11,3 percent, boil 22,7 percent, erysipelas 0,1 percent, pustula maligna 0,3 percent, herpes simplex 2,5 percent, palpebral herpes zoster 0,3 percent, acute Chagas's disease 0,4 percent, angioneurotic edema 0,1 percent, ecchymosis 3,0 percent, contact dermitis 7,8 percent and chemical dermitis 0,2 percent. These frequencies do not indicate the real occurrence of the diagnosed nosologies, but what happened in a specialized outpatient clinic dealing cheafly with parasitic diseases and arthropod envenomations. Description of relevant clinical features and epidemiological considerations of pathology observed conjointly with differential diagnosis are presented