Serological detection of infection with canine distemper virus, canine parvovirus and canine adenovirus in communal dogs from Zimbabwe

Abstract

Domestic dogs are common amongst communities in sub-Saharan Africa and may serve as important reservoirs for infectious agents that may cause diseases in wildlife. Two agents of concern are canine parvovirus (CPV) and canine distemper virus (CDV), which may infect and cause disease in large carnivore species such as African wild dogs and African lions, respectively. The impact of domestic dogs and their diseases on wildlife conservation is increasing in Zimbabwe, necessitating thorough assessment and implementation of control measures. In this study, domestic dogs in north-western Zimbabwe were evaluated for antibodies to CDV, CPV, and canine adenovirus (CAV). These dogs were communal and had no vaccination history. Two hundred and twenty-five blood samples were collected and tested using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibodies to CPV, CDV, and CAV. Of these dogs, 75 (34%) had detectable antibodies to CDV, whilst 191 (84%) had antibodies to CPV. Antibodies to canine adenovirus were present in 28 (13%) dogs. Canine parvovirus had high prevalence in all six geographic areas tested. These results indicate that CPV is circulating widely amongst domestic dogs in the region. In addition, CDV is present at high levels. Both pathogens can infect wildlife species. Efforts for conservation of large carnivores in Zimbabwe must address the role of domestic dogs in disease transmission.

Epidemiology of Canine Parvovirus Enteritis among Hospitalized Dogs in Effurun/Warri Metropolitan Region of Delta State, Nigeria

“…It is worth knowing that the low incidence rate of 13.4% reported here is purely based on clinical cases from hospitalization. The incidence in the general dog population may be greatly higher as found in earlier reports in Africa including Nigeria [10] [14] [21]. Furthermore, reasons for breed susceptibility still remain unclear; however, CPE was more significantly associated with Alsatian (49.0%), Mongrels (25.0%), Rottweiler (7.8%) and local dog (indigenous) breeds (5.9%) as compared with the other seven breeds in this study.…”

“…Nonetheless, some reports available to us indicate that the disease is relatively high in dogs screened across the continent. In Nigeria and South Africa for instance, 30/31 (96.77%) and 106/108 (98.15%) dogs, respectively tested positive to parvovirus [10] while in Zimbabwe serological survey indicated 191/225 (84.89%) of dogs screened had antibodies to CPV [21]. Most of the studies in Africa cited in this work focused less on the possible risks factors of the disease.…”

Canine parvovirus: the worldwide occurrence of antigenic variants

“…3). However, these numbers may change as there are several other countries where current studies are based on CPV positive serology testing, namely Cape Verde (Castanheira et al, 2014), Pakistan (Muzaffar et al, 2006) or Zimbabwe (McRee et al, 2014).…”

Epidemiology of Canine distemper and Canine parvovirus in pet dogs in Wenzhou, China

“…Previously, Cha et al (2012) showed that the seroprevalence of CPV in wild raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) from South Korea was 44.1%; McRee et al (2014) reported that 34% and 84% samples were detected to be positive to CDV and CPV, respectively in communal dogs from Zimbabwe; the CDV and CPV seroprevalences were 61% and 47%, and 89% and 72% in urban and rural areas, respectively in the Araucanía region in Chile (Acosta-Jamett et al, 2015). In the current research herein, the overall prevalence of CDV, CPV, and both viruses a Differences among the ages were found statistically significant of CDV infection in pet dogs (P<0.01,  2 =646.425).…”