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Canine vector-borne diseases are of great relevance not only regarding animal welfare but also in relation to the One Health concept. Knowledge concerning the most relevant vector-borne pathogens in dogs is scarce and limited to stray dogs in most western African regions, and there is virtually no information about the situation in kept dogs presenting (regularly) to vets. Therefore, the blood samples of 150 owned guard dogs in the Ibadan area—in the southwest of Nigeria—were collected and analyzed for the DNA of Piroplasmida (Babesia, Hepatozoon, Theileria), Filarioidea (e.g., Dirofilaria immitis, Dirofilaria repens), Anaplasmataceae (e.g., Anaplasma, Ehrlichia), Trypanosomatidae (e.g., Leishmania, Trypanosoma), Rickettsia, Bartonella, Borrelia and hemotropic Mycoplasma using molecular methods. Overall, samples from 18 dogs (12%) tested positive for at least one pathogen. Hepatozoon canis (6%) was the most prevalent blood parasite, followed by Babesia rossi (4%). There was a single positive sample each for Babesia vogeli (0.6%) and Anaplasma platys (0.6%). Moreover, one mixed infection with Trypanosoma brucei/evansi and Trypanosoma congolense kilifi was confirmed (0.67%). Generally, the prevalence of vector-borne pathogens in this sample group of owned dogs in southwest Nigeria was lower than in prior studies from the country and in other parts of Africa in total. This leads to the assumption that, firstly, the exact geographical location has a major influence on the incidence of vector-borne diseases, and, secondly, it seems to make a difference if the dogs are owned and, therefore, regularly checked at a veterinary clinic. This study should raise awareness of the importance of routine health check-ups, tick and mosquito prophylaxis, and a well-managed infectious disease control program to prevent vector-borne diseases in canines. Full article

Sub-Saharan Africa is profoundly challenged with African Animal Trypanosomiasis and the available trypanocides are faced with drawbacks, necessitating the search for novel agents. Herein, the chemotherapeutic potential of phloroglucinol on T. congolense infection and its inhibitory effects on the partially purified T. congolense sialidase and phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) were investigated. Treatment with phloroglucinol for 14 days significantly (p < 0.05) suppressed T. congolense proliferation, increased animal survival and ameliorated anemia induced by the parasite. Using biochemical and histopathological analyses, phloroglucinol was found to prevent renal damages and splenomegaly, besides its protection against T. congolense-associated increase in free serum sialic acids in infected animals. Moreover, the compound inhibited bloodstream T. congolense sialidase via mixed inhibition pattern with inhibition binding constant (Ki) of 0.181 µM, but a very low uncompetitive inhibitory effects against PLA₂ (Ki > 9000 µM) was recorded. Molecular docking studies revealed binding energies of −4.9 and −5.3 kcal/mol between phloroglucinol with modeled sialidase and PLA₂ respectively, while a 50 ns molecular dynamics simulation using GROMACS revealed the sialidase-phloroglucinol complex to be more compact and stable with higher free binding energy (−67.84 ± 0.50 kJ/mol) than PLA₂-phloroglucinol complex (−77.17 ± 0.52 kJ/mol), based on MM-PBSA analysis. The sialidase-phloroglucinol complex had a single hydrogen bond interaction with Ser453 while none was observed for the PLA₂-phloroglucinol complex. In conclusion, phloroglucinol showed moderate trypanostatic activity with great potential in ameliorating some of the parasite-induced pathologies and its anti-anemic effects might be linked to inhibition of sialidase rather than PLA₂. Full article