Age information was available from 178 dogs, whereas gender information was documented from 202 dogs. species in asymptomatic dogs in Peru in order to indirectly evaluate the potential for human exposure to zoonotic species. A convenient sample of 219 healthy dogs was obtained from five cities and three villages in Peru. EDTA-blood samples were collected from 205 dogs, whereas serum samples were available from 108 dogs. The EDTA-blood samples were screened by PCR followed by nucleotide sequencing for species identification. Antibodies against and were detected by IFA (cut-off of 164). DNA was detected in 21 of the 205 dogs (10%). Fifteen dogs were Mouse monoclonal to GST infected with genotype III. Seropositivity for was detected in 67 dogs (62%), and for in 43 (40%) of the 108 dogs. Reciprocal titers 1256 for were detected AVL-292 in 19% of dogs, and for in 6.5% of dogs. This study identifies for the first time a population of dogs exposed to or infected with zoonotic species, suggesting that domestic dogs may be the natural reservoir of these zoonotic organisms. Since dogs are epidemiological sentinels, Peruvian humans may be exposed to infections with or are bacteria transmitted by fleas, ticks, sandflies and other insects capable of infecting humans, domestic animals, livestock and wildlife, including marine mammals. In humans, they cause diseases such as trench fever, cat scratch disease, AVL-292 endocarditis, fever of unknown origin and have been AVL-292 recently associated with neurologic and neurocognitive abnormalities. was first described in Peru in 1913, and it has never been detected in animals. Despite the fact that 14 other species have been detected infecting humans around the world, no other species has yet been described from Peruvian humans or domestic animals. We documented a significant number of healthy domestic dogs in Peru infected or exposed to two species (and subsp. species for direct transmission to humans is not well understood, preventive measures including vector control in dogs should be implemented to prevent human infection. Introduction species are gram-negative bacteria associated with an increasing array of disease manifestations in humans and animals. They are small, obligate intracellular organisms that adhere and invade erythrocytes and endothelial cells of mammalian hosts, causing long lasting bacteremia [1], [2]. These zoonotic organisms are mainly transmitted by blood-sucking arthropod vectors, including fleas, body lice, ticks, sandflies and others [1]. To date, 15 species of are known to infect humans. Among these, nine species have been documented in dogs, based on culture isolation or DNA-based methods: subsp. (hereafter (including is the most frequent species of in Peru. Humans are considered the reservoir host and infection in animals has not been reported [1]. No other species of have been detected from Peruvian humans to date. However, a new bacteria, has been detected by culture and/or molecular techniques from three asymptomatic rural dogs in California [6], one stray dog in Colombia [7], one sick dog in Greece [8] and one dog with endocarditis in California [9]. In addition, an experimental infection of dogs, cats, and guinea pigs with demonstrated that only dogs became highly bacteremic without any disease expression, suggesting that dogs could be the natural reservoir for this species [10]. Domestic dogs may represent excellent epidemiological sentinels for infection in humans due to several factors: exposure to similar household and recreational environments of humans, potential parasitism by the same vectors, wide diversity of species identified in canines, development of a strong organism-specific antibody response to many vector-borne pathogens; and accessibility for safe handling and sample collection [11], [12]. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the potential for human exposure to zoonotic species by defining the serological and molecular prevalence of these.