Improved clinical approach to the diagnosis of canine ehrlichiosis.

Abstract

During a 20-month period canine ehrlichiosis was the most frequently diagnosed disease at the Nairobi University small animal clinic; 750 cases were identified in dogs within a 25-km radius of Nairobi (8% of all cases). Clinical cases were treated with oral tetracycline at 66 mg/kg daily for 14 days; oral doxycycline at 10 mg/kg daily for 14 days; or imidocarb at 5 mg/kg given as two intramuscular injections in 14 days apart. Seven broad groups of cases, characterized by clinical signs and laboratory findings including blood culture results, were established-acute, haemorrhagic, chronic, uraemic, subclinical, carrier state, and mixed Babesia infection. The cell culture test was far more reliable than the detection of morulae in stained peripheral blood smears.