Prevalence of piroplasms in small ruminants in North-West Tunisia and the first genetic characterisation ofBabesia ovisin Africa

Abstract

In this study, the prevalence of piroplasms in sheep and goats was assessed with Giemsa-stained blood smear examination, PCR and nested PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) to identify Babesia and Theileria species, respectively, in 338 small ruminants (172 sheep and 166 goats) from three sites in North-West Tunisia during the 2011 summer season. The overall infection prevalence of piroplasms in Giemsa-stained blood smears was 3.2% (11/338), with a parasitaemia ranging from 0.01 to 0.05%. PCR detected two species, namely Babesia ovis (in sheep and goats) and Theileria ovis (in sheep), with an overall prevalence of 16.3%. The molecular prevalence of B. ovis was significantly higher in sheep than in goats (17.4% and 9%, respectively, p = 0.034). The same trend was observed for T. ovis in sheep and goats (5.8% and 0%, respectively, p = 0.004). Comparison of the partial sequences of the 18S ssu rRNA gene revealed 100% similarity amongst Babesia from sheep and goats. The single Theileria sequence in this study showed 100% similarity to T. ovis. A high similarity with all the blasted genotypes was reported for Theileria and Babesia sequences. This is the first molecular detection of B. ovis and genetic characterisation of small ruminants’ piroplasms in Africa.

First molecular survey of Anaplasma bovis in small ruminants from Tunisia

“…This event matches with results reported by Rjeibi et al (2014) during an investigation on Babesia ovis in Tunisian sheep and goats.…”

First Molecular Identification and Genetic Characterization ofTheileria lestoquardiin Sheep of the Maghreb Region

“…Indeed, even if they are controlled, it is impossible to detect the presence of carrier‐state animals among a very long list of pathogens. In Tunisia, other studies showed the presence of T. ovis and B. ovis (M'ghirbi et al., ; Rjeibi et al., ), but none showed the presence of T. lestoquardi . Despite the low number of positive samples and the low geographic distribution area, further epidemiological studies are needed to conclude if T. lestoquardi is an emerging disease as it was reported during the last 10 years for the first time in three countries, namely Iraq, Oman and Iran.…”

Prevalence, First Molecular Identification and Characterization of Theileria lestoquardi in Sheep in Alhuda National Sheep Research Station, Al Gezira State, Sudan

“…The high prevalence rate determined in the current study compared to other regions may be attributed to differences in climatic conditions and sample collection times as observed by Yaghfoori [24]. Additionally, microscopic examination might not reflect the real prevalence rate of T. lestoquardi, as these piroplasms are difficult to be distinguished on morphological basis and need much expertise to differentiate between them [25]. A previous survey of T. lestoquardi, in Sudan included Wad-Medani town (ALGezira State) using Reverse Line Blot documented a high occurrence of T. ovis [26], this may explain the high prevalence of piroplasms observed in our study.…”