Hematological alterations in dogs infected with Erlichia canis

Abstract

The hemoparasite Erlichia canis, a Gram-negative bacterium of the order Rickettsiales and genus Erlichia spp., is an obligate intracellular parasite with tropism for mononuclear leukocytes. Transmitted through inoculation by the tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Upon entering the leukocytes to which it has tropism, the bacteria form clusters called morulae. The disease has three phases, acute, subclinical and chronic. The study used samples of blood or blood serum from 127 dogs, collected by venipuncture of the radial and jugular veins. After the analysis, it was possible to observe that the most commonly found alterations were eosinopenia (48.41%), thrombocytopenia (75%) and non-regenerative anemia (50%) being morphologically classified mostly as hypochromic normocytic. Concluding that the predominant hematological findings, even if unspecific and individual for each animal, were those mentioned above.