Babesiosis and anaplasmosis in dairy cattle in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Pesq. Vet. Bras. 33(9) The goal of this study was to characterize the epidemiological situation and the factors involved in the prevalence of babesiosis and anaplasmosis in cattle in the dairy basin of Parnaíba, Piauí, Brazil. The study was conducted in 22 farms, and collected blood samples from 202 cattle to study serological, molecular and determination of the packed cell volume (PCV). On the farms were applied surveys involving epidemiological aspects. Seroprevalence rates were: Babesia bigemina 52.5%, B. bovis 68.8%, and Anaplasma marginale 89.1%. Of the samples analyzed, 73.3% were reactive for Babesia spp. and A. marginale, showing co-infection. In PCR, B. bigemina and B. bovis were positive in 52.0% and 33.2% respectively, and A. marginale in 76.2%. Of these, 51.5% amplified DNA of Babesia spp. and A. marginale. The semi-intensive management predominated in 68.0% of the farms studied. The clinical history of babesiosis and anaplasmosis, was reported from 73% of the farms. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) between age groups and for the PCV of positive compared with negative animals. The study indicates that in this region is enzootic instability for babesiosis and enzootic stability for anaplasmosis, reinforcing the fact that in Brazil there are areas of enzootic instability, even in tropical regions of the country. The PCR technique was a valuable tool for the diagnosis of these diseases and may be used to characterize a geographic region. ões tropicais do país. A técnica de PCR demonstrou ser uma ferramenta valiosa para o diagnóstico destas doenças e pode ser utilizada para caracterizar uma região geográfica.

Dynamics of natural infection by Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina in dairy cattle from an enzootic instability area in Northeastern Brazil

“…(QUINTÃO-SILVA & RIBEIRO, 2003). In this region, an imbalance in the parasite/host relationship probably occurred, facilitating the appearance of new clinical cases and maintaining the region as an area of enzootic instability, which had already been observed in other studies (QUINTÃO-SILVA & RIBEIRO, 2003;SOUZA et al, 2013).…”

“…This study was conducted from June 2013 to June 2014 on two farms located 15 km apart; each farm had different management practices for dairy farming (Table 1); and the farms were located in the Litoral Piauiense micro region of Northeastern Brazil in an area of enzootic instability for babesiosis, as described by Souza et al (2013). Farm A, which is in the municipality of Buriti dos Lopes-PI, is located at latitude 3° 6 '9 "S and longitude 41 ° 53' 38" W, has a total area of 850 ha, has a seroprevalence of 55.5% for B.bigemina and has a seroprevalence of 33.3% for B. bovis.…”

“…Farm A, which is in the municipality of Buriti dos Lopes-PI, is located at latitude 3° 6 '9 "S and longitude 41 ° 53' 38" W, has a total area of 850 ha, has a seroprevalence of 55.5% for B.bigemina and has a seroprevalence of 33.3% for B. bovis. Farm B is in the municipality of Parnaíba-PI, is located at latitude 2° 58 '56 "S and longitude 41° 47' 36" W, has an area of 95 ha, has a seroprevalence of 23.1% for B. bigemina and has a seroprevalence of 30.7% for B. bovis (SOUZA et al, 2013).…”

“…The molecular detection of B. bigemina and B. bovis to determine primo-infection was performed by PCR using GAU7/GAU6 and GAU9/GAU10, respectively, which are primers previously described by Linhares et al (2002) Souza et al (2013), were used as negative and positive control, respectively, for each PCR reaction performed in this study.…”

“…In Northeastern Brazil, predominantly endemic areas unstable for babesiosis include cities such as Garanhuns-PE (ALVES, 1987) and Uauá-BA (BARROS et al, 2005); the semi-arid region of Paraíba ; and the middle-north area of Brazil (SOUZA et al, 2013). In the latter area, babesiosis is certainly one of the main diseases that affect cattle, which may facilitate outbreaks (SOUZA et al, 2013).…”