Prevalence of Canine Parvovirus in Domestic Dogs around Serengeti National Park (Tanzania)

Since 1978 canine parvovirus (CPV) has been an important pathogen of domestic dogs, causing acute haemorrhagic enteritis and myocarditis mostly in puppies. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of CPV strains in domestic dogs living around the Serengeti National Park (Tanzania). In this study, 77 whole blood samples collected from domestic dogs presenting no clinical signs were tested for CPV antigenic strains (CPV-2a and CPV-2b) using convectional PCR. Eight samples (10.4 %) were positive for CPV (CPV-2a and CPV-2b). The study shows that CPV is a common finding in healthy domestic dogs, which suggests they can act as potential reservoirs for transmission to other susceptible domestic dogs and wild life species.