Table 1.
Signalment data and year of sampling of dogs tested for Anaplasma spp. and Ehrlichia spp. exposure
| Variables | Total | Total positive | P value | Tested for A. ph | Positive to A. ph | P value | Tested for A. pl | Positive to A. pl | P value | Tested for E. ca. | Positive to E. ca. | P value | Tested for A. ph and E. ca. | Positive to A. ph and E. ca. | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of dogs | 1322 | 94 (7.1%) *2 | 1246 | 53 (4.3%) | 920 | 1 (0.1%) | 1312 | 63 (4.8%) | 1237 | 24 (1.9%) | ||||||
| Year of sampling | 0.0041 | 0.0001 | 0.2880 | 0.2619 | 0.2105 | |||||||||||
| 2012 | 50 | 6 (12%) | 41 | 4 (9.8%) | 1 | 0 (0%) | 50 | 2 (4.0%) | 41 | 0 (0%) | ||||||
| 2013 | 129 | 11 (8.5%) | 109 | 8 (7.3%) | 81 | 0 (0%) | 127 | 6 (4.7%) | 107 | 3 (2.8%) | ||||||
| 2014 | 155 | 20 (12.9%) | 142 | 13 (9.2%) | 76 | 0 (0%) | 151 | 12 (7.9%) | 138 | 5 (3.6%) | ||||||
| 2015 | 97 | 6 (6.2%) | 89 | 4 (4.5%) | 22 | 0 (0%) | 95 | 4 (4.2%) | 87 | 2 (2.3%) | ||||||
| 2016 | 93 | 10 (10.8%) | 82 | 5 (6.1%) | 26 | 0 (0%) | 93 | 8 (8.6%) | 82 | 3 (3.7%) | ||||||
| 2017 | 188 | 7 (3.7%) | 182 | 4 (2.2%) | 144 | 0 (0%) | 188 | 4 (2.1%) | 182 | 1 (0.5%) | ||||||
| 2018 | 178 | 8 (4.5%) | 173 | 4 (2.3%) | 154 | 0 (0%) | 177 | 8 (4.5%) | 172 | 4 (2.3%) | ||||||
| 2019 | 216 | 15 (6.9%) | 214 | 6 (2.6%) | 207 | 0 (0%) | 215 | 12 (5.6%) | 214 | 4 (1.9%) | ||||||
| 2020 | 216 | 11 (5.1%) | 214 | 5 (2.3%) | 209 | 1 (0.5%) | 216 | 7 (3.2%) | 214 | 2 (0.9%) | ||||||
| Sex | 0.0486 | 0.1990 | 0.9844 | 0.0787 | 0.5875 | |||||||||||
| Male | 657 | 37 (5.6%) | 613 | 21 (3.4%) | 451 | 1 (0.2%) | 652 | 24 (3.7%) | 609 | 10 (1.6%) | ||||||
| Female | 665 | 57 (8.6%) | 633 | 32 (5.1%) | 469 | 0 (0%) | 660 | 39 (5.9%) | 628 | 14 (2.2%) | ||||||
| Age (months) *1 | 67 (1-212) | 82 (2-194) | 0.4645 | 68 (1-212) | 85 (8-194) | 0.0794 | 76 (1-212) | 10 | 67 (1-212) | 71 (2-194) | 0.7671 | 68 (1-212) | 78 (8-194) | 0.5397 | ||
| Age groups | 0.1611 | 0.0299 | 0.1709 | 0.9502 | 0.5328 | |||||||||||
| Puppy, juvenile and young adult dogs | 247 | 14 (5.7%) | 231 | 6 (1.7%) | 153 | 1 (0.7%) | 246 | 11 (4.5%) | 230 | 2 (0.9%) | ||||||
| Mature adult dogs | 542 | 35 (6.5%) | 507 | 22 (4.3%) | 349 | 0 (0%) | 537 | 25 (4.7%) | 502 | 12 (2.4%) | ||||||
| Senior adult dogs | 445 | 40 (9.0%) | 426 | 26 (6.1%) | 346 | 0 (0%) | 441 | 22 (5.0%) | 423 | 9 (2.1%) | ||||||
| Geriatric dogs | 84 | 3 (3.6%) | 80 | 1 (1.3%) | 71 | 0 (0%) | 84 | 3 (3.6%) | 80 | 1 (1.3%) | ||||||
| Breed | < 0.0001 | 0.2925 | 0.7850 | < 0.0001 | 0.0034 | |||||||||||
| Mixed breed | 482 | 56 (11.6%) | 450 | 24 (5.3%) | 339 | 1 (0.3%) | 479 | 47 (9.8%) | 447 | 16 (3.6%) | ||||||
| Purebred | 840 | 38 (4.5%) | 796 | 29 (3.6%) | 581 | 0 (0%) | 833 | 16 (1.9%) | 790 | 8 (1.0%) | ||||||
| Purebred groups | 0.0847 | 0.0156 | 0.6695 | 0.0974 | ||||||||||||
| Toy breeds | 137 | 4 (2.9%) | 131 | 3 (2.3%) | 112 | 0 (0%) | 137 | 3 (2.2%) | 131 | 2 (1.5%) | ||||||
| Hunting breeds | 199 | 14 (7.0%) | 190 | 14 (7.4%) | 150 | 0 (0%) | 196 | 4 (2.0%) | 187 | 4 (2.1%) | ||||||
| Shepherd and guardian breeds | 234 | 13 (5.6%) | 220 | 7 (3.2%) | 152 | 0 (0%) | 231 | 6 (2.6%) | 218 | 1 (0.5%) | ||||||
| Other breeds | 270 | 7 (2.6%) | 255 | 5 (2.0%) | 167 | 0 (0%) | 269 | 3 (1.1%) | 254 | 1 (0.4%) | ||||||
| Geographical origin | 0.8617 | 0.9319 | < 0.0001 | 0.8756 | 0.7280 | |||||||||||
| Northern Italy group | 1232 | 87 (7.1%) | 1160 | 50 (4.3%) | 859 | 0 (0%) | 1233 | 59 (4.8%) | 1152 | 23 (2.0%) | ||||||
| Central Italy group | 57 | 5 (8.8%) | 55 | 2 (3.6%) | 42 | 1 (2.4%) | 56 | 3 (5.4%) | 54 | 1 (1.9%) | ||||||
| Southern Italy group | 33 | 2 (6.1%) | 31 | 1 (3.2%) | 19 | 0 (0%) | 33 | 1 (3.0%) | 31 | 0 (0%) |
A. ph: Anaplasma phagocytophilum; A. pl: Anaplasma platys; E. ca.: Ehrlichia canis
*1 Data are reported as median and (range minimum-maximum). *2 One dog tested positive was excluded from the statistical analyses referring to the different pathogens investigated because it had tested positive only by PCR for all known Anaplasmataceae but its nucleotide sequence had not obtained for characterisation