Spatial analysis of the exposure of dogs in rural north-coastal California to vectorborne pathogens
- J. E. Foley, DVM, PhD1,
- R. N. Brown, DVM, PhD3,
- M. W. Gabriel, MS3,
- J. Henn, PhD2,
- N. Drazenovich, MS1,
- R. Kasten, PhD2,
- S. L. Green, DVM4 and
- B. B. Chomel, DVM, PhD2
- 1 Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- 2 Department of Population, Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- 3 Department of Wildlife Biology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521, USA
- 4 Veterinary Housecalls, Arcata, CA 95521, USA
Abstract
Between 0 and 50 per cent of the dogs in eight rural villages in far northern California with a high risk of tickborne diseases were seropositive for Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Bartonella vinsonii subspecies berkhoffii, and between 0 and 10 per cent were seropositive for Borrelia burgdorferi. The odds ratio for the co-exposure of individual dogs to B vinsonii berkhoffii and A phagocytophilum was 18·2. None of the diseases was associated with the sex of the dogs, whether they slept out of doors, or whether tick-preventive measures were taken. When the villages were assessed for landscape risk factors, a particularly high seroprevalence for B vinsonii berkhoffii and A phagocytophilum was observed in a village at a relatively high altitude and greater distance from the Pacific coast, and montane hardwood conifer woodland was most associated with a high seroprevalence for these two pathogens.
- British Veterinary Association. All rights reserved.
