• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.561-564
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• 2017

This report describes a dog infected with Hepatozoon canis, the first canine infection in the Republic of Korea. A 2-year-old intact male Maltese dog presented with anorexia and depression. Physical examinations revealed mild dehydration and hyperthermia ($39.8^{\circ}C$), and blood analysis showed pancytopenia. Diff-Quik staining of blood smear specimens showed the presence of ellipsoidal shaped structures (gamonts of H. canis) within a small number of neutrophils. Real-time PCR analysis using whole blood confirmed infection by H. canis. The clinical condition of the dog improved after symptomatic treatment and administration of doxycycline. Although a molecular epidemiologic survey in Korea showed H. canis infection of dogs, to our knowledge this is the first report of a dog infection in Korea molecularly shown to be H. canis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Veterinary Clinics Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.154-154
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• 2008

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.79-88
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• 2017

The study of canine vector-borne diseases in the Philippines started in the 1970s but only gained interest in the past decade. Characterization of such diseases in the Philippines remains incomplete, thus, it is necessary to obtain additional information on the prevalence and diversity of canine tick-borne diseases in the country. In this study, blood samples were obtained at two veterinary clinics in Metro Manila, Philippines from 114 dogs suspected of having canine tick-borne pathogens. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on whole blood DNA extracts followed by sequencing, and the following pathogens were detected: Hepatozoon (H.) canis (5.26%), Babesia (B.) vogeli (5.26%), Ehrlichia (E.) canis (4.39%), and Anaplasma platys (3.51%). Additionally, a set of multiplex PCR primers were developed to detect H. canis, Babesia spp. (B. canis and B. vogeli), and E. canis in canine blood. Multiplex and conventional single-reaction PCR results for the 114 dog blood samples were similar, except for one H. canis sample. Multiplex PCR is, therefore, a useful tool in screening infected dogs in veterinary clinics. This study's results, together with those of previous studies in the country, show that canine vector-borne pathogens are an emerging veterinary concern in the Philippines.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.589-596
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• 2018

Ticks are the vectors of various pathogens, threatening human health and animal production across the globe. Here, for the first time we detected Ricketssia spp., Borrelia spp. and protozoan in ticks from Poyang Lake region in Jiangxi Province of eastern China. In 3 habitat categories and on 12 host species, 311 ticks from 11 species were collected. Haemaphysalis longicornis was the predominant species, accounting for 55.63%, followed by Rhipicephalus microplus, Haemaphysalis flava and Ixodes granulatus. Of the collected ticks, 7.07% were positive for tick-borne pathogens, and H. longicornis and H. flava were found to be co-infected with Ricketssia spp. and protozoan. H. flava was the most detected positive for tick-borne pathogens, whereas H. longicornis had the lowest infection rate, and the difference in infection rates between tick species was significant (${\chi}^2=61.24$, P<0.001). Furthermore, adult ticks demonstrated remarkably greater infection rate than immature ticks (${\chi}^2=10.12$, P=0.018), meanwhile ticks on Erinaceidae showed significantly higher positivity than ticks collected on other host species (${\chi}^2=108.44$, P<0.001). Genetic fragment sequencing and analyses showed at least 4 pathogen species presence in ticks, namely Borrelia yangtzensis, Rickettsia slovaca or Rickettsia raoultii related genospecies, Babesia vogeli and Hepatozoon canis or Hepatozoon felis related genospecies. The finding indicates that the abundant ticks can carry diverse pathogens in Poyang Lake region, and pathogen infection is highly related to species, vertebrate hosts and life stages of ticks.