Research Article Seroprevalence of Canine Ehrlichiosis and Microscopic Screening for Canine Babesiosis in Dogs in Harare, Zimbabwe, 2016-2017 Solomon Dhliwayo, Brighton Chihambakwe, Knowledge Taonezvi, Silvester M. Chikerema , Musavengana T. Tivapasi, and Davies M. Pfukenyi Department of Clinical Veterinary Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe Correspondence should be addressed to Silvester M. Chikerema; schikerema@vet.uz.ac.zw Received 22 July 2019; Revised 2 October 2019; Accepted 22 October 2019; Published 1 December 2019 Academic Editor: Remo Lobetti Copyright © 2019 Solomon Dhliwayo et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A cross-sectional study was done to determine ehrlichiosis seroprevalence and babesiosis prevalence in dogs that were presented to selected veterinary clinics in Harare. Sera from randomly selected dogs were tested for antibodies to Ehrlichia spp. using an enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay while microscopy of peripheral blood smears was used to confirm babesiosis. Overall, 75.2% (88/117, 95% CI: 66.2–82.5) of sera samples tested were positive to Ehrlichia spp. antibodies while the prevalence of canine babesiosis was 47.9% (56/117, 95% CI: 38.6–57.3). Age, breed, and sex were found not to be associated with the two disease conditions ( > 0.05). Most of the dogs with babesiosis (82.1%, 46/56) were also positive to Ehrlichia spp. antibodies. Hypoalbuminaemia (53.8%, 63/117), anaemia (53.0%, 62/117) and thrombocytopaenia (40.2%, 47/117) were the most common laboratory findings. rombocytopaenia and hypoalbuminaemia was more pronounced in dogs with babesiosis only while anaemia was more marked in dogs with babesiosis and positive to Ehrlichia spp. antibodies. 1. Introduction Canine ehrlichiosis, a potentially fatal disease of dogs is caused by Ehrlichia species. e disease has acute, subclinical and chronic stages [1] and clinical findings in dogs vary with the stage of the infection [2]. Clinical signs observed in the acute phase of the disease include fever, anorexia, oculo-nasal discharges, vomiting, weight loss, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy and, rarely epistaxis and haemorrhage [1, 3]. e chronic phase is marked by epistaxis, haematuria, petechiae, ecchymosis distributed over skin surface, respiratory distress, ocular abnormalities, and CNS signs [1]. Previous canine ehrlichiosis studies in Zimbabwe showed an overall seroprevalence of 42% [4]. Dogs are naturally infected with several species; E. canis, E. chaffeensis, and E. ewingii [5] with E. canis being the most common and causing the most severe clinical disease in Africa and Asia [6]. Although several Ehrlichia spp. are able to cause natural disease in dogs, only E. canis and E. ruminantium are known to occur in southern Africa [6]. However, serological evidence of antibodies against E. chaffeensis, E. ewingii, and E. ruminantium from dog sera in South Africa and Zimbabwe has been documented [7–10]. Some studies from Venezuela and Costa Rica have suggested that E. canis might be zoonotic [11, 12]. Canine babesiosis is a disease of worldwide significance that causes fever, haemolytic anaemia, haemoglobinuria and death [13]. It is an important disease of domestic and wild canidae [14]. e most common clinical signs associated with babesiosis are anorexia, fever, depression/lethargy, pale mucosae, splenomegaly, and weight loss [13]. Canine babesiosis studies in Zimbabwe are limited, with two studies reporting a prevalence of 6.9% and 26% [4, 15]. e disease is caused by three strains of the large Babesia canis namely, B. canis, B. rossi, and B. vogeli; the small B. gibsoni and the microbabesiae; B. microti, B. vulpes and B. conradae [16]. In Africa, the small-sized Babesia has been reported in East and North Africa [13, 17, 18] with the rest of Africa reporting the large-sized Babesia [13, 19, 20] and there is no report of the microbabesiae [21, 22]. However, currently there is no literature on Babesia spp. infecting dogs in Zimbabwe. Hindawi Veterinary Medicine International Volume 2019, Article ID 4130210, 7 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/4130210