Research Communications of the 24th ECVIM-CA Congress

The study was funded by Texas A&M University. The primary author and two co-authors work at the GI Laboratory, Texa A&M University. Canine bartonellosis is increasingly recognized worldwide and may be associated with diverse clinical manifestations. Recent evidence suggests that bartonellosis also causes lameness and polyarthritis in dogs. However, PCR amplification of Bartonella DNA and isolation of Bartonella species from canine synovial fluid (SF) samples have rarely been reported. Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) due to Leishmania infantum is a multisystemic disease commonly associated with polyarthritis. Based on the hypothesis that concurrent Bartonella infection may be a contributing factor for the development of arthritis in dogs with CanL, the main objective of this study was to investigate the microbiological and molecular prevalence of Bartonella spp. in dogs with naturally-occurring CanL, with or without cytologically documented arthritis. From a previous study, 38 dogs with CanL were retrospectively studied for Bartonella spp. infection. Diagnosis of CanL was based on compatible clinical and clinicopathological abnormalities, positive serology, and lymph node or bone marrow (BM) cytology. Dogs with serological evidence of other vector-borne infections (anaplasmosis, borelliosis, dirofilariosis and ehrlichiosis) and dogs recently vaccinated or medicated were excluded from the study. Arthritis defined as a neutrophil percentage in excess of 10% of nucleated cells in SF cytology was documented in 31/ 38 (81.6%) of dogs. A total of 74 archived specimens from 38 dogs, including 33 EDTA-anticoagulated blood samples, 19 BM and 22 SF aspirates were tested for Bartonella spp. DNA using a Bartonella alpha proteobacteria growth medium (BAP-GM) diagnostic platform. Eight (21.1%) dogs were infected with one or two Bartonella species, including Candidatus Bartonella merieuxii(n = 5), B. henselae SA2 (n = 3) and B. rochalimae (n = 1). Bartonella spp. DNA was amplified from BM in 4 dogs and from blood in 3 dogs but was not amplified from any SF sample. Overall, 6 (19.4%) dogs with and 2 (28.6%) dogs without arthritis were infected with a Bartonella species. The prevalence of Bartonella spp. DNA in the dogs with or without arthritis did not differ (v 2 test for independence, P = 0.589 The prevalence of Giardia in dogs ranges between 5.4% and 55.2%, with a higher prevalence in puppies. However, the risk factors for Giardia infection around weaning have been poorly described. The aim of the study was to evaluate risk factors for Giardia infection in puppies during the first weeks of life and to determine an impact of this parasite on feces quality.