Molecular Survey of Babesia microti (Aconoidasida: Piroplasmida) in Wild Rodents in Turkey

Abstract

Babesia microti (Aconoidasida: Piroplasmida) (Franca, 1910) is an important tick-borne zoonotic parasite with rodents serving as reservoir hosts. In the present study, 536 rodents were captured from Burdur, Bartin, Giresun, and Yozgat provinces of Turkey between the years 2010 and 2012, and blood samples were examined for the presence of Babesia spp. using conventional PCR which targeted the 18S rRNA gene. The sequence analysis of PCR amplicons was tested for B. microti as well as for Hepatozoon spp., and Sarcocystis spp. Overall, 5.8% of the rodents were positive for B. microti: 41% in Myodes glareolus, 7.7% in Chionomys roberti, and 2% in Apodemus spp., whereas no Babesia DNA was detected in Mus macedonicus and Microtus spp. Six rodents were positive for Hepatozoon spp. and one rodent was positive for Sarcocystis spp. Overall, 14.9 and 4.5% of rodents captured from Bartin and Giresun provinces, respectively, were PCR positive for B. microti, whereas none of rodents captured in Burdur and Yozgat were positive for Babesia spp. The sequence data of B. microti from rodents revealed that all sequences belonged to the zoonotic genotype. Sequences of B. microti obtained from rodents of the Bartin province were genotypically closer to European isolates, whereas those obtained from rodents of the Giresun province were closer to Russian and Mongolian isolates.

First Record of Hepatozoon spp. in Alpine Wild Rodents: Implications and Perspectives for Transmission Dynamics across the Food Web

“…glareolus showed the highest prevalence of Hepatozoon spp. among all captured rodent species (58.8%), as was also observed in other studies [13,32,47,63], although with very variable levels (from 3.7% to 87.5% [13,23,47,48,62,82]). Conversely, the prevalence we found for A. flavicollis (28.1%) is higher than all previously published estimates that were below 10% [13,47,48,63] and may support a high prevalence of Hepatozoon spp.…”

“…Indeed, beyond Babesia spp., BJ1 and BN2 primers can amplify the 18S RNA gene of some other protozoans [47], such as the 600-bp fragment of Hepatozoon spp. [48][49][50]. To discriminate the two parasites and detect coinfections, we analyzed all the samples separately (protocol of Babesia spp.…”

Protozoan and Microbial Pathogens of House Cats in the Province of Tekirdag in Western Turkey

“…Babesia microti has rarely been reported in cats, whereas B. canis canis is rather reported in dogs around the world, but no feline cases of B. canis canis have been reported in Turkey. Previous studies confirmed B. microti DNA presence both in I. ricinus and Hyalomma marginatum found in the country [ 41 ]. In the present study, B. microti and B. canis canis DNA was detected in four and 24 out of 167 samples examined, respectively.…”

“…Since the cats are often closely in contact with humans and rodents they can act as a reservoir between wildlife pathogens. Babesia microti PCR positivity was reported in 5.8% of the 536 rodents caught between 2010 and 2012 in Bartin and Giresun Provinces of Turkey [ 41 ]. A total of 322 blood samples were collected from individuals with tick bites in the Province of Corum, out of which 0.93% were positive for B. microti [ 44 ].…”

Zoonotic Babesia microti infection in wild rodents in Erzurum province, northeastern Turkey

“…The presence and prevalence of B. microti in rodents, and its tick vectors, have been reported worldwide (Azagi et al, 2021; Bajer et al, 2001; Beck et al, 2011; Blaňarová et al, 2016; Chao et al, 2017; Galfsky et al, 2019; Hong et al, 2014; Tołkacz et al, 2017). In Turkey, B. microti has been identified in rodents by means of both molecular analysis (Usluca et al, 2019) and microscopy (Cicek et al, 2009). In addition, B. microti has been detected via molecular analysis in an I. ricinus pool collected from sheep (Aydin et al, 2015) and in Hyalomma marginatum ticks collected from humans (Karasartova et al, 2018).…”