A molecular survey of Mycoplasma haemocanis in dogs and foxes in Aomori Prefecture, Japan.

摘要

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method with a primer set that amplifies the Mycoplasma haemofelis 16S ribosomal RNA gene was used to demonstrate the distribution of M haemocanis in an epidemiological survey of 913 dogs, 12 foxes and 4 raccoon dogs in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, between July 2002 and July 2003. The nested PCR using the primer set produced the expected 348 bp fragments. The sequences of PCR products from two dogs and a fox in Aomori Prefecture showed 100% homology to the sequences of Haemobartonella canis 16S rRNA gene (GenBank Accession Nos. AF197337 and AF407208, respectively) and M. haemocanis 16S rRNA gene (AY529641). 37 of 913 dogs (4.1%) and one of 12 foxes (8.3%) showed a band corresponding to the 348 bp fragment that was positive for M. haemocanis. Of the 913 dogs examined, 73 were Tosa dogs and 25 (34.2%) of these were positive for M. haemocanis. The incidence of M. haemocanis was 1.4% (12/840) in other dogs. All but one of the 25 infected Tosa dogs were male. We also found M. haemocanis infection in one fox in Aomori Prefecture, suggesting that this pathogen may be transmitted between dogs and foxes through an arthropod vector.