Serodetection of Ehrlichia canis infection in dogs from Ludhiana district of Punjab, India.

Dot-ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) Immunocomb(®) assay was conducted to detect the presence of antibodies against Ehrlichia canis in blood samples of 60 privately owned dogs suspected to be infected with E. canis from the Small Animal Clinics, College of Veterinary Science, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, Punjab (India). Antibodies reactive to E. canis were detected in plasma in 48 samples out of 60 samples by Immunocomb(®) Dot-ELISA. Out of these 39.58% samples were low positive (Titre 1:20-1:40), 31.25% were medium positive (Titre 1:80-1:640) and 29.16% were high positive (Titre >1,280), for the infection. When examined by microscopy, only two samples revealed typical E. canis morulae. Haemato-cellular examination revealed thrombocytopenia along with anaemia and leucopenia. Results suggest that E. canis infection circulates in dogs in India in low non-detectable numbers by microscopy and is transmitted by the brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus.