DETERMINACIÓN DE Hepatozoon canis MEDIANTE PCR EN CANINOS DOMÉSTICOS DE LA VELA DE CORO, ESTADO FALCÓN, VENEZUELA Estimation of Hepatozoon canis Infections by PCR in Domestic Dogs from La Vela de Coro, Falcon State, Venezuela

Hepatozoonosis is a barely recognized in daily veterinary cases because it is considered as an opportunistic disease in immunocompromised animals. Although the parasite is morphologically distinguishable by light microscopy, carrier cases are easily passed unnoticed due to low sensitivity of the technique. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of this parasite in canine blood samples of La Vela de Coro, Falcon State, Venezuela, through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. To achieve this goal, blood samples from 62 domestic dogs were obtained. DNA was isolated from each sample using a commercial kit and PCR was carried out to amplify a Hepatozoon canis RNA 18S partial gen using specific primers. Simultaneously, blood samples were analyzed by blood smears stained with Hemacolor®. A 27.41% of positive samples were determined by PCR; 4.86% of the samples had characteristic gamonts observed by microscopy. The results suggest that this disease is sub diagnosed in the localities under studies and in the absence of an effective treatment, strategies for tick control must be accomplished to avoid reinfection of the positive animals and spreading the disease to the neighboring dogs.