The concurrence of naturally occurring Ehrlichia canis infection and renal dysfunction in dogs: kidney diseases and survival analysis

Abstract

Canine monocytosis ehrlichiosis (CME) is a common tick-borne infection announced worldwide but the coincident effects on kidney disease in dogs is unclear. This study aims to explore the effect of naturally occurring Ehrlichia canis infection on kidney diseases and to evaluate the outcome of CME on survival time in dogs with kidney injury. From the 511 dogs reported death between 2012 to 2017, the 166 dogs with renal insufficiency were included for analysis. The result showed 21.08% (35/166) E. canis infection. Among CME dogs, 94.28% (33/35) were simultaneously diagnosed CME together with kidney disease. CME significantly occurred with acute kidney injury (AKI) more than chronic kidney disease (CKD) 5.57 [95%CI: OR (1.99 - 18.45)] times (p < 0.01). Also, the E. canis infected dogs showed significantly associated with renal death 2.42 [95%CI: OR (1.04 ñ 5.87)] times (p = 0.04) compared with non-infected ones. The median survival time of AKI and CKD were 1.5 days [95%CI: (1-3 days)] and 97 days [95%CI: (14-267 days)], respectively. The survival time of both AKI and CKD dogs between with and without CME were not significantly different (p = 0.71 and p = 0.66, respectively). In conclusion, E. canis infection was possibly deteriorated renal dysfunction and was commonly diagnosed with AKI in dogs. The CME should be concerned with kidney injury progression in clinical practice. Further studies are warranted to investigate the pathogenesis of the renal injury caused by CME.