Current distribution of selected canine vector‐borne diseases in domestic dogs from Barranquilla and Puerto Colombia, Atlántico, Colombia

Abstract Background Climate change, the increase of travel with infected animals from endemic areas, the introduction of new vectors in these areas and environmental changes caused by human activity, among other factors, have contributed to the establishment and increase of canine vector‐borne diseases (CVBDs), several of which are zoonotic and pose a risk to the human population. In Colombia, there are very few studies that address the prevalence of these diseases. The objective of this study was to update the prevalence of cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis and Lyme borreliosis in dogs in Barranquilla and Puerto Colombia, areas of northern Colombia. Materials and methods The present study included 354 dogs presented to veterinary clinics for routine health examination and foundations for stray dogs between November 2016 and July 2018. Results The percentage of dogs positive for Ehrlichia spp. was 61.86%, followed by 22.03% for Anaplasma spp., 11.30% positive for Dirofilaria immitis antigens and 0.56% positive for Borrelia burgdorferi. In addition, several dogs positive for antibodies against two or more infectious diseases were found. Higher seroprevalences were documented in outdoor dogs compared to indoor‐housed dogs. Conclusion These results suggest that veterinarians should routinely implement prophylactic programmes for these CVBDs, particularly for dogs that reside outdoors.

OTALORA ET AL. human activities and climate change, as well as the presence of vectors in a given location (Maggi & Krämer, 2019;Morchón et al., 2012;Montoya-Alonso et al., 2020).
Heartworm disease, caused by Dirofilaria immitis, is a cosmopolitan zoonotic disease transmitted by culicid mosquitoes. Domestic dogs are the definitive host, although the disease also affects other carnivores, both domestic and wild. It is a chronic and potentially lethal disease which affects the vascular endothelium and lung parenchyma, while also potentially affecting the right heart chambers, which could lead to congestive heart failure in the infected host Simón et al., 2012).
The majority of dogs with CGA are mainly characterized by having non-specific signs of fever, anorexia, lethargy, joint pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, anaemia, etc. Dogs with CTT often lack clinical signs despite clinicopathologic evidence of thrombocytopenia, and further are not expected to be anaemic unless thrombocytopenia were to lead to clinically relevant spontaneous haemorrhage, which is unlikely. Dogs with CME can display a variety of clinical signs during the acute phase such as fever, lethargy, poor appetite, chronic eye inflammation, abnormal bruising and bleeding, among other clinical signs (Beaufils et al., 2002).
Finally, Ehrlichia ewingii infection causes polyarthritis and, in the dog, Lyme borreliosis can cause chronic lameness and joint pain, and if not treated, has the potential to cause glomerulonephritis and cardiac disease. The clinical diagnosis of borreliosis in dogs is complicated since it shares clinical signs with other CVBDs (Maggi & Krämer, 2019).
Due to the fact that there are few studies that address these diseases and that their prevalence or seroprevalence is very disparate, the objective of this current study was to update the prevalence of car-diopulmonary dirofilariosis and seroprevalence of anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis and Lyme borreliosis in dogs in Barranquilla and Puerto Colombia, northern Colombia.

Characteristics of Barranquilla and Puerto Colombia
Barranquilla and Puerto Colombia are located in Atlántico, northern Colombia, at sea level, with the highest altitude (120 m) at coordinates

Dog samples
This study included 354 dogs presented to one veterinary clinic and two foundations for stray dogs in Barranquilla between November 2016 and July 2018. In all cases, the same veterinarian conducted a physical examination and recorded any clinical signs. The inclusion criteria were dogs over 6 months of age that had not travelled outside the area of interest of the study in the last 6 months, not receiving regular chemoprophylaxis or vector repellents for the studied vector-borne diseases and with the owner's informed consent to participate in this study. Dogs were randomly selected by convenience sampling having the permission of the owner or staff of the shelter from which the dog samples were obtained. From each dog, the following data were collected: age, gender, breed, and zip code of their home address (Table 1).
From each animal included in the study, 1 ml of blood was collected from the cephalic or jugular vein, from which serum was obtained and stored at −20 • C until tested for D. immitis antigens and Anaplasma spp.,
The map shows georeferenced positive dogs by diseases.

Statistical analysis
The data were analyzed using the SPSS Base 18.0 software. A descriptive analysis of the variables was carried out and a chi-squared test was performed to compare proportions for the qualitative variables, to an α = 0.05 significance level.

RESULTS
The Samples of positive dogs were georeferenced on a map where layers of relevant geographic and environmental information were included ( Figure 1). All positive cases were located in the vicinity of some of rivers, areas with stagnant water, parks, mountainous areas or even in coastal areas.

DISCUSSION
The objective of this study was to analyze and monitor the current epidemiology of four high-impact vector-borne diseases in domestic dogs in the area of Barranquilla and Puerto Colombia, Atlántico, Colombia.
In the study population, Ehrlichia spp. had the highest seropreva-

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The study was carried out under the frame of Agencia de Desarrollo Económico de Castilla y León (co-financed with FEDER funds) and Clínica Veterinaria Vida Animal-Del Caribe. We thank IDEXX Laboratories for kindly providing the SNAP 4DX PLUS rapid assays used in the study.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Dr. Couto is a consultant for IDEXX Laboratories. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

ETHICS STATEMENT
The authors confirm that the ethical policies of the journal, as noted on the journal's author guidelines page, have been adhered to and the appropriate ethical review committee approval has been received.
Helsinski Declaration of the code of ethics and animal welfare for the Care and Use of Animals were followed.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Óscar Otalora and Rodrigo Morchón designed the study and wrote the manuscript. Guillermo Couto, Julio Benavides and Carlos Mucha performed the fieldwork and collected the data and performed the experiments. All authors participated in the discussion of the results, as well as in correcting and approving the final manuscript.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

PEER REVIEW
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.