Abstract
Canine hepatozoonosis is a vector-borne disease caused by apicomplexan protozoa of the genus Hepatozoon. Dogs may be infected by two Hepatozoon species, namely, Hepatozoon americanum and Hepatozoon canis. The first species is considered to be restricted to North America, whereas the second has a cosmopolitan distribution. Recently, feline infection by Hepatozoon felis showed to be prevalent in some cat populations worldwide. Hepatozoon infection typically occurs when a susceptible animal ingests a tick vector harboring mature oocysts with sporozoites, even if intrauterine transmission has been described for both H. canis and H. americanum for which also carnivorism of the intermediate host was suggested. While H. canis meronts develop in the lymphatic organs (e.g., spleen and lymph nodes), bone marrow, and liver, mostly causing mild disease, H. americanum may cause debilitating conditions, associated with musculoskeletal pain. The diagnosis of canine hepatozoonosis is mainly based on the presence of compatible clinical signs and the cytological or molecular detection of gamonts in blood samples. Several therapeutic protocols have been proposed, but data on the treatment of the disease are still incipient. Currently, no vaccine is available for the prevention of canine hepatozoonosis, and therefore the control of this infection should rely on the control of ticks.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abd Rani PA, Irwin PJ, Coleman GT et al (2011) A survey of canine tick-borne diseases in India. Parasit Vector 4:141
Allen KE, Li Y, Kaltenboeck B, Johnson EM et al (2008) Diversity of Hepatozoon species in naturally infected dogs in the southern United States. Vet Parasitol 154:220–225
Baneth G (2011) Perspectives on canine and feline hepatozoonosis. Vet Parasitol 181:3–11
Baneth G, Shkap V (2003) Monozoic cysts of Hepatozoon canis. J Parasitol 89:379–381
Baneth G, Weigler B (1997) Retrospective case–control study of hepatozoonosis in dogs in Israel. J Vet Intern Med 11:365–376
Baneth G, Aroch Tal N, Harrus S (1998) Hepatozoon species infection in domestic cats: a retrospective study. Vet Parasitol 79:123–133
Baneth G, Barta JR, Shkap V et al (2000) Genetic and antigenic evidence supports the separation of Hepatozoon canis and Hepatozoon americanum at the species level. J Clin Microbiol 38:1298–1301
Baneth G, Samish M, Alekseev E et al (2001) Transmission of Hepatozoon canis to dogs by naturally-fed or percutaneously-injected Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks. J Parasitol 87:606–611
Baneth G, Mathew JS, Shkap V et al (2003) Canine hepatozoonosis: two disease syndromes caused by separate Hepatozoon species. Trends Parasitol 19:27–31
Baneth G, Samish M, Shkap V (2007) Life cycle of Hepatozooncanis (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina: Hepatozoidae) in the tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus and domestic dog (Canis familiaris). J Parasitol 93:283–299
Baneth G, Sheiner A, Eyal O et al (2013) Redescription of Hepatozoon felis (Apicomplexa: Hepatozoidae) based on phylogenetic analysis, tissue and blood form morphology, and possible transplacental transmission. Parasit Vectors 6:102
Dantas-Torres F (2008) The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) (Acari: Ixodidae): from taxonomy to control. Vet Parasitol 152:173–185
Dantas-Torres F, Latrofa MS, Weigl S et al (2012) Hepatozoon canis infection in ticks during spring and summer in Italy. Parasitol Res 110:695–698
De Tommasi AS, Giannelli A, de Caprariis D et al (2014) Failure of imidocarb dipropionate and toltrazuril/emodepside plus clindamycin in treating Hepatozoon canis infection. Vet Parasitol 200:242–245
Forlano M, Scofield A, Elisei C et al (2005) Diagnosis of Hepatozoon spp. in Amblyomma ovale and its experimental transmission in domestic dogs in Brazil. Vet Parasitol 134:1–7
Giannelli A, Ramos RAN, Di Paola G et al (2013) Transstadial transmission of Hepatozoon canis in Rhipicephalus sanguineus nymph stage. Vet Parasitol 4:542–546
Götsch S, Leschnik M, Duscher G et al (2009) Ticks and haemoparasites of dogs from Praia, Cape Verde. Vet Parasitol 166:171–174
Karagenc TI, Pasa S, Kirli G et al (2006) A parasitological, molecular and serological survey of Hepatozooncanis infection in dogs around the Aegean coast of Turkey. Vet Parasitol 135:113–119
Li Y, Wang C, Allen KE, Little SE et al (2008) Diagnosis of canine Hepatozoon spp. infection by quantitative PCR. Vet Parasitol 157:50–58
Miranda RL, Castro JR, Olegário MM et al (2011) Oocysts of Hepatozoon canis in Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus collected from a naturally infected dog. Vet Parasitol 177:392–396
Murata T, Inoue M, Tateyama S et al (1993) Vertical transmission of Hepatozoon canis in dogs. J Vet Med Sci 55:867–868
Murata T, Inoue M, Taura Y et al (1995) Detection of Hepatozoon canis oocyst from ticks collected from the infected dogs. J Vet Med Sci 57:111–112
Otranto D, Dantas-Torres F, Weigl S et al (2011) Diagnosis of Hepatozoon canis in young dogs by cytology and PCR. Parasit Vector 4:55
Otranto D, Dantas-Torres F, Tarallo VD et al (2012) Apparent tick paralysis by Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari: Ixodidae) in dogs. Vet Parasitol 188:325–329
Otranto D, Cantacessi C, Pfeffer M et al (2015) The role of wild canids and felids in spreading parasites to dogs and cats in Europe. Part I: Protozoa and tick-borne agents. Vet Parasitol 213:12–23
Paludo GR, Friedmann H, Dell’Porto A et al (2005) Hepatozoon spp.: pathological and partial 18S rRNA sequence analysis from three Brazilian dogs. Parasitol Res 97:167–170
Rubini AS, Santos Paduan K, Perez RR et al (2006) Molecular characterization of feline Hepatozoon species from Brazil. Vet Parasitol 137:168–171
Rubini AS, Paduan KS, Martins TF et al (2009) Acquisition and transmission of Hepatozoon canis (Apicomplexa: Hepatozoidae) by the tick Amblyomma ovale (Acari: Ixodidae). Vet Parasitol 164:324–327
Sasanelli M, Paradies P, Lubas G et al (2009) Atypical clinical presentation of coinfection with Ehrlichia, Babesia and Hepatozoon species in a dog. Vet Rec 164:22–23
Sasanelli M, Paradies P, Greco B et al (2010) Failure of imidocarbdipropionate to eliminate Hepatozoon canis in naturally infected dogs based on parasitological and molecular evaluation methods. Vet Parasitol 171:194–199
Vincent-Johnson NA (2003) American canine hepatozoonosis. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract 33:905–920
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dantas-Torres, F., Otranto, D. (2017). Hepatozoonosis. In: Marcondes, C. (eds) Arthropod Borne Diseases. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13884-8_23
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13884-8_23
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-13883-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-13884-8
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)