Molecular Epidemiological Survey of Theileria orientalis in Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam

Abstract

Theileria orientalis is a benign bovine protozoan parasite that occasionally causes serious economic loss in the livestock industry. We report the findings of a molecular epidemiological survey of T. orientalis in 94 Vietnamese yellow cattle, 43 water buffaloes, 21 sheep, 21 goats and 85 blood-sucking ticks of cattle in the Thua Thien Hue province of Vietnam. The major piroplasm surface protein (MPSP) gene of T. orientalis was detected using polymerase chain reaction from 13 cattle (13.8%), 11 water buffaloes (25.6%), 1 sheep (4.8%) and 9 ticks (10.6%). Phylogenetic analysis using MPSP gene sequences showed the presence of seven genotypes, four previously categorized genotypes (Types 1, 3, 5 and 7) and three new genotypes (Types N-1, N-2 and N-3).

Development and Validation of a Quantitative PCR Assay Using Multiplexed Hydrolysis Probes for Detection and Quantification of Theileria orientalis Isolates and Differentiation of Clinically Relevant Subtypes

“…Furthermore, the UIC assay was more specific and had near-identical sensitivity to that reported for a recently published multiplexed tandem PCR assay (28). The U component of the UIC multiplex targets highly conserved regions of the MPSP gene in order to account for the genotypic diversity within T. orientalis (11 types observed currently) (13,15,16). Therefore, the U component allows for additional flexibility in detecting any genotypes not typically associated with disease or for which the clinical relevance has not been fully established (45).…”

“…T. orientalis is a conditional pathogen, and while pathogenic forms are largely limited to Eastern Asia and Australasia (5, 6, 8-10), it is frequently detected in asymptomatic animals; these benign forms are globally spread (5,(11)(12)(13)(14). Analysis of the most common genotyping locus (p32), encoding the variable major piroplasm surface protein (MPSP), currently identifies 11 distinct T. orientalis genotypes (13,15,16). Of these genotypes, type 2 (Ikeda) and to a lesser extent type 1 (Chitose) are typically found in association with clinical disease (6,9,10,(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

Molecular detection and characterization of Theileria species in the Philippines

“…The parasites infect cattle during tick feeding which rapidly invade mononuclear leukocytes and later erythrocytes in the piroplasm stage (Cox 1982, d'Oliveira et al 1995, Parthiban et al 2010 and may cause general lymphadenopathy, fever, anorexia, anemia, jaundice, weight loosed and eventually death if untreated in susceptible animals. Most affected are calves, stressed animals, or immunosupressed adult cattle as well as non-indigenous breeds (Jang et al 2003, Khukhuu et al 2010. As a result, serious economic losses in the livestock industry can subsequently arise (Tajima et al 1998, Khukhuu et al 2010.…”

Molecular Detection of <i>Theileria</i> Species in Sheep from Northern China

“…T. sergenti is an invalid name from a taxonomic viewpoint, since it has been used to previously describe a parasite of sheep [9,16]. Recently, some genotypes of T. orientalis that affected cattle have been identified in some countries, such as China [10], Thailand [13], Vietnam [7] and Japan [20]. However, little information was available for the occurrence of T. orientalis in sheep and goats.…”