Hospital-based Prevalence of Canine Monocytic Ehrlichiosis and Hepatozoonosis in Thoothukudi District of Tamil Nadu, India

Ticks are important and widespread blood-feeding arthropod parasites that can transmit zoonotic infections to both humans and animals. The present study aimed to evaluate the hospital-based prevalence of canine monocytic ehrlichiosis and hepatozoonosis in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu. A total of 612 canine peripheral blood smears were screened for blood parasites at the Animal Disease Intelligence Unit, Thoothukudi, collected from animals exhibiting pyrexia, lymph node enlargement, erythema, and epistaxis using Giemsa’s staining under 1000x magnification. The results obtained were analyzed using conventional percentages and subjected to chi-square tests to draw significant conclusions regarding the prevalence of Canine monocytic Ehrlichiosis and hepatozoonosis in relation to the animal's sex and the season of disease occurrence. The overall hospital-based prevalence of canine ehrlichiosis and hepatozoonosis was 4.41 per cent and 0.82 per cent, respectively. Male dogs were more susceptible to both ehrlichiosis and hepatozoonosis than females. The prevalence of Ehrlichia canis was 4.76 per cent in males and 4.04 per cent in females; the prevalence of Hepatozoon canis was 0.95 per cent in males and 0.67 per cent in females. Ehrlichiosis was most common during the monsoon season (8.23 per cent), followed by summer (3.98 per cent), and winter (2.37 per cent). The influence of season on tick infestation prevalence was statistically significant (p