Coinfection of Sheep withAnaplasma,TheileriaandBabesiaSpecies in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Renneker, Stefanie; Abdo, Jassim; Bakheit, Mohammed A.; Kullmann, Birgit; Beyer, Doreen; Ahmed, Jabbar S.; Seitzer, Ulrike

doi:10.1111/tbed.12148

Cited by 34 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…Despite the widespread distribution of ovine tick-borne haemoparasitic diseases in tropical and subtropical regions of the world [33] and their constraint to livestock production [1, 15, 29, 34], relatively limited information on their abundance and distribution is currently available [33]. Theileriosis and babesiosis are the two most extensively studied tick-borne haemoparasitic diseases occurring in small ruminants in Turkey; however only limited information exists on ovine anaplasmosis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These two parasites have been detected in China [3, 40] and Iraq [29] and recent evidence suggests the distribution of T. luwenshuni extends as far as the UK [41]. A study conducted in Iran revealed the presence of T. luwenshuni in sheepdog isolates [42].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These species occurred as co-infections rather than single infections. Theileria uilenbergi has previously been detected as a co-infection of sheep with A. ovis and/or T. ovis in northern Iraq [29]. There is a possibility that T. luwenshuni and T. uilenbergi have been introduced to Turkey from northern Iraq and/or Iran with the movement/migratory pattern of domestic small ruminants and/or wild ruminants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…such as H. parva , H. sulcata and H. punctata have been detected in various regions of Turkey [44]. Theileria lestoquardi , the cause of malignant theileriosis, has never been documented in Turkey, which is surprising since it has been detected in the neighbouring countries of Iran [45] and Iraq [29]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Omatjenne have been identified in cattle and in ticks collected from animals and humans [23–26]. Anaplasma ovis was also detected in ticks collected from animal shelters [27], however only limited information exists concerning ovine anaplasmosis [28, 29]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prevalence of tick-borne haemoparasites in small ruminants in Turkey and diagnostic sensitivity of single-PCR and RLB

et al. 2017

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BackgroundTick-borne haemoparasitic diseases (TBHDs), caused by Theileria, Babesia, Anaplasma and Ehrlichia, are common in regions of the world where the distributions of host, pathogen and vector overlap. Many of these diseases threaten livestock production and some also represent a concern to human public health. The primary aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the above-mentioned pathogens in a large number of blood samples (n = 1979) collected from sheep (n = 1727) and goats (n = 252) in Turkey. A secondary aim was to assess the diagnostic sensitivity of a number of species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and the reverse line blotting (RLB) assay. DNA samples were screened using species-specific PCR for the presence of Theileria ovis, Theileria sp. MK, T. lestoquardi, T. uilenbergi, T. luwenshuni, Babesia ovis, Anaplasma ovis and A. phagocytophilum while RLB was undertaken to test for the presence of all known Theileria, Babesia, Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species. The diagnostic sensitivity of these two approaches was then compared in terms of their ability to detect single species and mixed infections.ResultsOverall, 84 and 74.43% of the small ruminants sampled were identified as hosting one or more pathogen(s) by species-specific PCR and RLB respectively. The presence of Theileria sp. OT1, T. luwenshuni and T. uilenbergi in Turkey was revealed for the first time while the presence of Babesia motasi, B. crassa and T. separata in Turkish small ruminants was confirmed using molecular methods. A high prevalence of mixed infection was evident, with PCR and RLB approaches indicating that 52.24 and 35.42% of animals were co-infected with multiple species, respectively. More than 80% of the mixed infections contained T. ovis and/or A. ovis. The RLB approach was found to be capable of detecting mixed infections with species such as Theileria sp. OT1, Theileria sp. OT3, T. separata, B. crassa and Babesia spp.ConclusionThe results indicated that pathogens causing TBHDs are highly prevalent in sheep and goats in Turkey. The diagnostic sensitivity of species-specific single PCR was generally higher than that of RLB. However, the latter approach was still capable of identifying a high proportion of individuals containing mixed-species infections. The use of species-specific single PCR is recommended to accurately estimate pathogen prevalence and to identify co-infected hosts.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-017-2151-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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