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

Abstract

Wild rodents are natural reservoir hosts of various pathogens, including Babesia microti. This study investigated the presence of B. microti in rodents from Erzurum province in Turkey. A total of 498 rodents and 21 rodent‐fed ticks were analysed using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to test for the presence of B. microti. Babesia spp. were detected in three (0.6%) of the 498 rodent spleen samples. The Babesia‐positive rodent species were identified as Microtus socialis by means of molecular analysis. The rodent‐fed ticks comprised 15 Ixodes laguri and 6 Rhipicephalus sanguineus, none of which tested positive for Babesia spp. A sequence analysis of the 18S PCR amplicons confirmed the three Babesia‐positive samples to be B. microti. The Erzurum isolates were 100% identical to the zoonotic Jena strain. The results of this study indicate the existence of zoonotic B. microti strains that may constitute a potential public health risk in Erzurum province. Future studies should determine the tick vector and other reservoir rodent species of B. microti in Erzurum.

First molecular detection of Babesia spp. in 4 species of wild rodents in northwestern China

“…For example, Libyan jirds are widely distributed from Central Asia to North Africa and even Europe. Some wild rodents in Russia, Germany and Turkey have been reported to be infected with Babesia microti (Guven et al, 2022) (Rar et al, 2016) (Obiegala et al, 2015). The long-tailed ground squirrels and red-cheeked ground squirrels that you collected were from Tacheng area, which is located on the border between China and Kazakhstan.…”

Analysis of Codon Usage Bias of Thioredoxin in Apicomplexan Protozoa

“…Apicomplexans are a class of obligate intracellular parasitic protozoa, with a large geographical distribution, which are important pathogens for humans and animals and can cause serious zoonotic diseases such as malaria, toxoplasmosis, and cryptosporidiosis [35,[39][40][41][42][43][44]79]. Besides, apicomplexans are believed to have been obtained from Protista, dividing into aconoidasida and conoidasida, including Toxoplasma gondii, Plasmodium spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Eimeria spp., Babesia spp., Theileria spp., Neospora caninum.…”

“…Apicomplexans are a diverse group of protozoa that are obligate intracellular parasites and are responsible for causing many diseases that affect humans and animals, including Toxoplasma gondii, Neospora caninum, Plasmodium spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Eimeria spp., Babesia spp., Theileria spp., etc [32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. They have a complex life cycle involving multiple hosts and typically have an apical complex that aids in penetrating host cells.…”