Frecuencia de Brucelosis en perros en campañas de esterilización de las parroquias rurales del cantón Cuenca

Abstract

This research study was conducted to identify the frequency of brucellosis in dogs during sterilization campaigns in the parishes of Cumbe and Quingeo, as well as predisposing factors: age, sex, diet, and access to the outdoors, since there are no actual data on canine brucellosis in these areas. Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease transmitted by bacteria of genre Brucella and affects dogs as well as humans. This disease has an affinity for reproductive tissues and causes pathologies such as abortions in females and epididymitis in males. From this perspective, the need for this research arose. The diagnosis was made using a commercial immunochromatography kit that detects Brucella antibodies in the whole blood of the 100 dogs used in our study. The results revealed a frequency of canine brucellosis of 61% of positive cases in the campaigns conducted by the University of Cuenca. The relations between variables were determined using the Chi-square test, which revealed a significant relationship between dogs testing positive for brucellosis and outdoor access of 48%, and between dogs testing positive for brucellosis and age of 33%. This research also included georeferencing, recording the locations of the dogs' owners who attended the sterilization campaigns. This resulted in a map with references to the origins of each dog.