An epidemiological approach to Ehrlichia canis in dogs in Duran located in Guayas province, Ecuador

Abstract

The objective of this research was to determine the seroprevalence of Ehrlichia canis in dogs in two sectors of the Durán canton of the Guayas Province, Ecuador; this is an intracellular bacterium, of worldwide distribution that affects the mononuclear cells of susceptible hosts and is transmitted by ticks, it should be noted that the climate of the area studied presents the necessary characteristics for the proliferation of the vector and as a consequence the presence of the hemoparasite. The unit of analysis was the dogs, the type of research was descriptive, non-experimental, transversal and correlational, 30 dogs older than 6 months of age were sampled, a structured questionnaire was used as an instrument of data collection and a survey was applied to the owners. The samples were analyzed by immunochromatography technique using the Bioguard test, the data were evaluated using SPSS software version 27, where a 46.66% seroprevalence of Ehrlichia canis was determined, when a correlational analysis was made between independent and dependent variables, it was determined that there is no association between them.