studying the frequency of ehrlichia canis in dogs of shiraz city by serological method

Ehrlichia canis (ehrlichiosis) is an emerging zoonotic disease that is transmitted by the tick rhipicephalus sanguineus and is caused by bacteria of the anaplasma tasse family. this study was conducted with the aim of determining the serum prevalence of anti e. canis antibodies and also determining the risk factors of disease in domestic and non-domesticate dogs in shiraz city in order to confirm the serological results by ifat (the indirect fluorescent antibody test) method, pcr method was also used in dogs infected with rhipicephalus sanguineus tick. sampling was done from the body of 200 dog collars regardless of breed, age and sex and then a serological evaluation was done to check the contamination and then the ticks were classified according to species. ticks were kept in containers containing 70% alcohol at 4°c and in the next step, their dna was extracted and pcr test was performed. ifat results showed that the serum prevalence of anti e. canis antibodies is very low (4 dog collars (1.5%)). the prevalence of rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks in the studied dog population was reported as 18% (36 dog collars) and based on the results of the pcr test, it was found that 3 samples out of 200 studied samples were positive for ehrlichia species. in the present study, all 3 infected dog collars had rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks and in the examination of blood smears of tested dogs, ehrlichia canis morulae was not seen in lymphocytes. according to the results obtained from this study, ehrlichiosis can be considered as a new zoonotic disease in iran.