Prevalence of Rickettsia rickettsii infection in dogs from the urban and rural areas of western Turkey

Abstract

In this study, rickettsial infections in dogs living in rural and urban areas were evaluated in the Western Turkey. Dog sera has been tested indirect immunofluorescence test (IFA) by containing Rickettsia rickettsii antigen. Dog blood sera samples were obtained from 250 dogs (50 dogs from urban area and 200 dogs from rural area) covering the two-year period between March 2009 - March 2011. For each sera, the antigen reactive with Rickettsia rickettsii constitute the end point titers were determined. A total of 250 dogs sera samples were tested. Dog sera samples were found 54.0% (135/250) seropositive and 43.2% (108/250) were found seronegative for the Rickettsia rickettsii. However, of the 2.8% (7/250 dog sera samples were found to be suspicious for the Rickettsia rickettsii at ≥ 1:64 - 1:256 < titer. In this study, 7 (14.0%) dogs in urban areas were found to be seropositive and 128 (64.0%) dogs in rural areas were found to be seropositive in the ≥ 1:256 titer with the IFA test. In conclusion, titers of antibodies against Rickettsia rickettsii obtained from rural and urban dogs in Western Turkey appeared to be remarkable and more research needs to be done on this subject reveals.