TY - JOUR
T1 - Serological evidence of Ehrlichia minasensis infection in Brazilian dogs
AU - Melo, Andréia Lima Tomé
AU - Luo, Tian
AU - Zhang, Xiaofeng
AU - Muraro, Lívia Saab
AU - Pereira, Nathalia Assis
AU - Cabezas-Cruz, Alejandro
AU - Dantas-Torres, Filipe
AU - McBride, Jere W.
AU - de Aguiar, Daniel Moura
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank to J.T. de Melo and E.C.L.T. de Melo for their technical support and Estância Ecológica SESC Pantanal for logistical support. This work was supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) (1913/2011), Fundação de Amparo à pesquisa do Estado de Mato Grosso (FAPEMAT) (263287/2010) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (472206/2011-7). We thank CAPES and CNPq for the scholarships of A.L.T. Melo. F. Dantas-Torres and D.M. Aguiar are also recipients of a research fellowship from CNPq (respective grants number: 313118/2018-3 and 303677/2018-0). D.M. UMR BIPAR is supported by the French Government's Investissement d'Avenir program, Laboratoire d'Excellence “Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases” (grant no. ANR-10-LABX-62-IBEID). Aguiar thanks God for his life and for his work in veterinary medicine.
Funding Information:
We thank to J.T. de Melo and E.C.L.T. de Melo for their technical support and Est?ncia Ecol?gica SESC Pantanal for logistical support. This work was supported by Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES) (1913/2011), Funda??o de Amparo ? pesquisa do Estado de Mato Grosso (FAPEMAT) (263287/2010) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico (CNPq) (472206/2011-7). We thank CAPES and CNPq for the scholarships of A.L.T. Melo. F. Dantas-Torres and D.M. Aguiar are also recipients of a research fellowship from CNPq (respective grants number: 313118/2018-3 and 303677/2018-0). D.M. UMR BIPAR is supported by the French Government's Investissement d'Avenir program, Laboratoire d'Excellence ?Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases? (grant no. ANR-10-LABX-62-IBEID). Aguiar thanks God for his life and for his work in veterinary medicine.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Ehrlichia spp. are important tick-borne pathogens of animals in Brazil, and Ehrlichia canis is the most prevalent species infecting dogs. Moreover, Ehrlichia minasensis has also recently been identified as a novel ehrlichial agent that infects cattle in Brazil. The objective of this study was to determine whether dogs could be infected by E. minasensis. To investigate this possibility, sera (n = 429) collected from dogs in the Pantanal region were retrospectively analyzed for the presence of antibodies against E. canis and E. minasensis. Canine sera were screened by two isolates of E. canis in indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and the majority (n = 298; 69.4%) had antibodies with endpoint titers ranging from 80 to 327,680. In order to further confirm E. canis-specific antibodies, IFA positive sera were analyzed by ELISA using E. canis-specific peptides (i.e. TRP19 and TRP36 US/BR/CR), which detected E. canis antibodies in 80.2% (239/298) of the dog sera. Fifty-nine (13.7%) samples had detectable antibodies to E. canis by IFA but were negative by E. canis peptide ELISA. These sera were then tested by E. minasensis IFA (Cuiaba strain) as antigen and 67.8% (40/59) were positive (titers ranging from 80 to 20,480). Eleven sera had antibody titers against E. minasensis at least two-fold higher than observed for E. canis and suggests that these dogs were previously infected with E. minasensis. The results of the present study suggest that multiple ehrlichial agents infect dogs in Brazil, which highlights the need to consider different Ehrlichia spp. in Brazilian dogs, particularly in areas where dogs are frequently exposed to multiple tick species. This investigation is the first to provide serologic evidence of E. minasensis infection in dogs from Brazil.
AB - Ehrlichia spp. are important tick-borne pathogens of animals in Brazil, and Ehrlichia canis is the most prevalent species infecting dogs. Moreover, Ehrlichia minasensis has also recently been identified as a novel ehrlichial agent that infects cattle in Brazil. The objective of this study was to determine whether dogs could be infected by E. minasensis. To investigate this possibility, sera (n = 429) collected from dogs in the Pantanal region were retrospectively analyzed for the presence of antibodies against E. canis and E. minasensis. Canine sera were screened by two isolates of E. canis in indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and the majority (n = 298; 69.4%) had antibodies with endpoint titers ranging from 80 to 327,680. In order to further confirm E. canis-specific antibodies, IFA positive sera were analyzed by ELISA using E. canis-specific peptides (i.e. TRP19 and TRP36 US/BR/CR), which detected E. canis antibodies in 80.2% (239/298) of the dog sera. Fifty-nine (13.7%) samples had detectable antibodies to E. canis by IFA but were negative by E. canis peptide ELISA. These sera were then tested by E. minasensis IFA (Cuiaba strain) as antigen and 67.8% (40/59) were positive (titers ranging from 80 to 20,480). Eleven sera had antibody titers against E. minasensis at least two-fold higher than observed for E. canis and suggests that these dogs were previously infected with E. minasensis. The results of the present study suggest that multiple ehrlichial agents infect dogs in Brazil, which highlights the need to consider different Ehrlichia spp. in Brazilian dogs, particularly in areas where dogs are frequently exposed to multiple tick species. This investigation is the first to provide serologic evidence of E. minasensis infection in dogs from Brazil.
KW - Brazil
KW - ELISA
KW - Ehrlichia canis
KW - IFA
KW - canine
KW - serology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104926499&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85104926499&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.actatropica.2021.105931
DO - 10.1016/j.actatropica.2021.105931
M3 - Article
C2 - 33901440
AN - SCOPUS:85104926499
SN - 0001-706X
VL - 219
JO - Acta Tropica
JF - Acta Tropica
M1 - 105931
ER -