Content
- What is canine ehrlichiosis?
- Canine ehrlichiosis - symptoms
- acute phase
- subclinical phase
- chronic phase
- Diagnosis of canine ehrlichiosis
- Canine ehrlichiosis catches in humans?
- Canine ehrlichiosis have a cure?
- Canine Ehrlichiosis Prevention
Does your dog have ticks? You need to be on the lookout for certain illnesses like canine ehrlichiosis. Unfortunately this disease is quite common in puppies that are not properly dewormed.
If your dog has been diagnosed with this disease by the veterinarian or you simply want to know more about it, in this article by PeritoAnimal we will explain everything you need to know about it. canine ehrlichiosis caused by the bite of ticks. We will review the symptoms, clarify the diagnosis and which treatments are most recommended.
What is canine ehrlichiosis?
Canine ehrlichiosis is an infectious contagious disease, also known by other names such as: canine typhus, canine hemorrhagic fever or tropical canine pancytopenia. Dogs are infected by this disease through the bite of the most common tick, the so-called brown tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus).
The tick is a reservoir, that is, a carrier, of a bacterium called a Erlichia kennels (formerly called Rickettsia kennels)and when biting the dog, the bacteria enters the dog's bloodstream and will affect the immune system because it infects the white blood cells.
Ticks bite dogs infected with the Erlichia kennels and they get these bacteria inside them. Later, transmit this bacteria to other healthy dogs through the sting. For this reason it is so important for your puppy to comply with the deworming protocol set by your trusted veterinarian. The tick does not only transmit this disease, it also transmits others such as Babesiosis, for example.
Any dog regardless of breed or sex can suffer from this disease. However, some studies indicate that German Shepherd dogs are more susceptible.
Canine ehrlichiosis - symptoms
The symptoms of canine ehrlichiosis depend on the type of form in which this disease manifests itself, which can be: acute, subclinical and chronic.
acute phase
After the incubation period, after the dog is infected, which usually lasts between 8 to 20 days, the acute phase of the disease appears. At this stage, the bacteria proliferates inside the cells and mainly affects the liver, spleen and lymph nodes. This phase usually lasts between 2 and 4 weeks.
At this stage, the dog with canine ehrlichiosis may present the following symptoms:
- Fever
- Depression
- Lethargy
- Anorexia
- hemorrhages
- Eye damage: uveitis, hemorrhages etc.
- Breathing problems
sometimes there may be neurological symptoms of canine ehrlichiosis as a consequence of meningitis. This is because the cells affected by the bacteria are carried to various parts of the dog's body, including the meninges. Thus, intense tremors, ataxias and other neurological signs can occur.
subclinical phase
In this second phase, the symptoms are not evident and it usually lasts between 6 and 9 weeks approximately. In other words, at this stage, you will not be able to easily observe any type of symptoms in the dog. However, changes exist at the hematological level and can be detected by your veterinarian: thrombocytopenia, leukopenia and anemia.
chronic phase
If the dog's immune system works properly, it will become a chronic carrier without symptoms. However, if the puppy has symptoms of the disease, these will be similar to the acute phase but in a much more severe form. You may see the dog with the following symptoms:
- Apathy
- cachexia
- secondary infections
- Weight loss
- hemorrhages
- pale mucous
Diagnosis of canine ehrlichiosis
Only a veterinarian can make a correct diagnosis of canine ehrlichiosis. Diagnosis of this disease is not always easy, as the symptoms are similar to many other diseases. Anyway, if your dog has a tick and any of the clinical signs, this could already be an indication that it could be this disease.
Your veterinarian, after doing a thorough physical examination and listening to the entire history (called an anamnesis) you tell him, will perform hematological tests to confirm.
The main diagnostic method is called blood smear. With this method, the veterinarian uses a drop of blood that he will observe under the microscope and confirm the presence of Erlichia kennels. This method is the most economical and fast but it is not always the most effective because as mentioned, this bacteria circulates in the bloodstream and there may not be a bacterium in this drop of blood but it exists in the bloodstream. For this reason, there are other diagnostic methods that your veterinarian may choose to use if you do not detect the bacteria in the blood smear, such as the polymerase chair reaction (PCR) and indirect immunofluorescence (IFI).
Canine ehrlichiosis catches in humans?
For several decades it was believed that ehrlichiosis were "species-specific", that is, that they were only transmitted within the same species. However, several different species of Ehrlichia have been found in humans and cases of human ehrlichiosis have increased in several countries and therefore it is believed to have zoonotic potential. If your dog has canine ehrlichiosis don't worry he won't catch you.
In Brazil, human ehrlichiosis is, fortunately, uncommon.
Canine ehrlichiosis have a cure?
The treatment of canine ehrlichiosis depends on the stage in which your puppy is. The main treatment, especially in the chronic phase, is supportive treatment, in which the veterinarian uses the fluid therapy and may even need to do blood transfusions to compensate for the dog's bleeding.
Combined with good supportive treatment, the veterinarian can administer different drugs to combat ehrlichiosis, especially antibiotics, such as doxycycline. In addition, treatments for the associated symptomatology presented must be performed.
Canine Ehrlichiosis Prevention
The main method of fighting this disease, like all others, is prevention. There is no type of vaccine against ehrlichiosis and the only way to prevent it is to make a correct protocol of deworming to prevent ticks.
If you are adopting a new dog, it is important that you keep it separate from other dogs as long as it is not properly dewormed. This is one of the reasons why a quarantine of new dogs in kennels is so important.
This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.
If you want to read more articles similar to Canine ehrlichiosis - symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, we recommend that you enter our section on Parasitic Diseases.