Prevalence of select vector-borne disease agents in owned dogs of Ghana

Ticks, sera and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) blood were collected from dogs evaluated at the Amakom Veterinary Clinic in Kumasi, Ghana. Sera were evaluated for Dirofilaria immitis antigen and antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi , Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Ehrlichia canis . Conventional polymerase chain reaction assays designed to amplify the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of Ehrlichia spp. or Anaplasma spp. or Neorickettsia spp. or Wolbachia spp., Babesia spp., Rickettsia spp., Hepatozoon spp., Bartonella spp. and the haemoplasmas were performed on DNA extracted from EDTA blood and all positive amplicons were sequenced. This small survey shows that the following vector-borne pathogens are present in urban Ghanian dogs: Ehrlichia canis , Hepatozoon canis , Dirofilaria immitis and Anaplasma platys . Bartonella henselae was isolated from ticks but not from the dogs.