Relationship between the number of Hepatozoon canis gamonts and hematobiochemical values in dogs

The occurrence of canine hepatozoonosis in Thailand is primarily caused by Hepatozoon canis. Recently, the relationship of hematology and biochemistry with this disease has been studied, but knowledge regarding the relationship between the quantity of H. canis intracellular gamonts and the hematological profile has not yet been reported. The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical, hematological and biochemical profile of H. canis-positive dogs and the relationship of the number of H. canis gamonts, animal signalment, and hematological and biochemical values. A total of 185 H. canis-positive blood samples were examined, including buffy coat smears and comprehensive data. The number of gamonts was randomly counted from buffy coat smears samples (75/185). The dogs infected with H. canis presented to the animal hospital mostly for health status checks, anorexia, or accidents. Observations from the physical examination on the first day of registration included systemic abnormalities such as digestive, integument, respiratory, urogenital, etc. Most of the dogs showed clinical signs of systemic abnormality in more than one system. Our study shows that plasma proteins are correlated with the number of H. canis gamonts, using Spearman's rho correlation coefficient with significant difference (p <0.05). This finding could be applied to improve the diagnosis and treatment of canine hepatozoonosis.