Comparative study of doxycycline and marbofloxacine for treatment of canine moncytic ehrlichiosis

CME (canine monocytic Ehrlichiosis) is one of the tick - borne vector diseases caused by Ehrlichia canis. CME is a disease primarily caused for dogs. It can also infect human beings. Ehrlichiosis is a worldwide disease, but most common on tropical and subtropical areas. Canine monocytic Ehrlichiosis causes multisystemic disorders. It has 3 forms: acute, subclinical and chronic. Clinical signs are variable, but most common are lymphadenopahty, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, hemorrhage, anorexia, depression, lethargy, pyrexia, petechiae. Main disorders on biochemical analysis of blood: hypoalbuminemia, hyperglobulinemia, hypergamaglobulinemia. There are many options of diagnosis and treatments. Doxycycline is the first line – drug option of acute form of CME treatment. There is no research article about efficacy of CME treatment by using marbofloxacine. The aim of master study was to compare treatments of two different drugs (doxycycline and marbofloxacine) and recognize which one is the best choise of treatment. The research was made in, private veterinary clinic in Izmir, Turkey. Data collected between 16th of july - 16th of october 2012. 34 dogs were diagnosed as canine monocytic ehrlichiosis. Diagnosis was made within traditional buffy coat smear within giemsa staining, Snap 4dx test (E. canis antibody positivity) and nested PGR applications (E. canis antigen positivity). There were 34 cases of naturally infected dogs with E. canis. They were divided into two groups (17 in each). Each dog was clinically checked; anamnesis, clinical signs, rectal temperature were registered. First group got doxycycline applications; second group got marbofloxacine. Both groups got drug applications for two weeks. Haematology analysis was made before (0 day) and after (30th day) the treatment. The results were compared. No statistically significant differences were detected. Both treatment were tolerated. The variety, gender, bread and age of dogs had no influence on drug effect and treatment efficiency. Dogs completely recovered, clinical signs disappeared. In conclusion, marbofloxacine was as much efective as doxycycline. The study shows that marbofloxacine can be an alternative for doxycycline