Zeitschrift für Veterinärwissenschaft und medizinische Diagnose

Seroepidemiology of Selected Vector Borne Diseases in Urban and Rural Pet Dogs in Madrid, Spain

Guillermo Couto, Ricardo Ruano Barneda, Victor Domingo Roa and Leif Lorentzen

Vector-borne diseases (VBD) are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in dogs, and some of them are zoonotic. We evaluated 79 healthy and 117 sick dogs (n=196) in the Madrid region (Spain) for evidence of common vector borne diseases The seroprevalence for the study group was 19.4% (38/196 dogs); of these, 15.8% (31/196 dogs) were seropositive for only one agent; there were 5 dogs positive for Ec (2.5 %), 3 positive for Ana (1.6%), 0 positive for Bb, 2 positive for Di (1%), and 21 positive for Li (10.7%). Seven dogs were coinfected; 5 dogs were seropositive for Ec and Ana (2.5%), and 2 for Ec and Li (1%). Twenty-six of the 38 (68.4%) seropositive dogs were sick. The seroprevalence was significantly higher in dogs that lived in a rural environment (28%), compared to those that resided in an urban environment (12.8%) (p=0.004). Nineteen of 87 (21.8%) seropositive dogs from rural environment were sick, and 5/87 (5.5%) were healthy; whereas 7/109 (6.4%) seropositive urban dogs were sick and 7/109 (6.4%) were healthy. Both sick and seropositive dogs had clinically relevant clinicopathologic abnormalities. Although the seroprevalence of these selected VBDs is similar to those previously reported, we found a high percentage of seropositive urban dogs. Interestingly, the seroprevalence of LI was similar between rural and city dogs.